Singer Michel Martelly is sworn in as Haiti’s president

Martelly speaks in front of the crumpled National Palace, a symbol of a broken country ravaged by an earthquake last year and perpetually suffering from high rates of illiteracy and unemployment.

Haiti’s new president, Michel Martelly, stands with his wife, Sophia, and their children as the Haitian national anthem is played in Port-au-Prince. (Brennan Linsley, Associated Press / May 14, 2011)

By Allyn Gaestel, Los Angeles TimesMay 15, 2011

Reporting from Port-au-Prince, Haiti—

Former singer Michel Martelly was sworn in Saturday as Haiti’s new president, promising change in a country whose towering needs will soon test his ability to shift from political outsider to national leader.

Martelly, elected in March by a commanding margin, spoke in front of a powerful symbol of the work ahead: the National Palace, crumpled like many other buildings in last year’s devastating earthquake.In his first remarks as president, Martelly summoned some of the same passion that fueled his campaign, his first foray into electoral politics.

“Haiti has been sleeping,” Martelly said. “Today she will wake up, stand up.”

Martelly, 50, reaffirmed a campaign vow to provide free education to the widely illiterate population. And while noting the need for security, his voice rose almost to a shout as he swore to bring to justice anyone who brought disorder to the country.

Martelly emphasized the need for a secure environment to lure investors and create jobs, a central issue in a country where unemployment is endemic.

The ceremony and setting were an attempt to set a new tone for a nation struggling to recover from the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake and, months later, a cholera epidemic.

A massive stage was constructed in front of the snow-white palace. Photographs of Haitian landmarks dotted a backdrop that had in its center a pre-quake image of the once-gleaming presidential residence.

But jutting above the backdrop was the real building, collapsed, with its white domes dipping precariously forward. Nearby, a plaza remained crammed with tents sheltering thousands of people left homeless after the quake.

Groups had taken to the streets with brooms all week, sweeping up garbage. Nonetheless, onlookers had to sidestep big potholes and piles of rubble.

Outgoing President Rene Preval handed over the presidential sash in the morning. The swearing-in took place in the makeshift parliament building, but a power outage forced Martelly to take the oath of office in darkness.

Numerous national and foreign officials turned up for the occasion, including former President Clinton and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe.

Seeking a measure of conciliation in a country with a long history of polarization and turmoil, Martelly invited two former presidents who returned to Haiti this year: former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier and Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Neither attended.

Haitians climbed flagpoles outside the parliament building and pressed against the palace gates to get a glimpse of their new president.

“He comes from God. All Haitians are walking with him,” said Charles Lufret, 39 and unemployed, who watched the ceremony from the tent-crammed plaza outside the palace.

“The name of president follows him, from music to the palace,” Lufret explained. He was referring to Martelly’s former career as a popular kompa singer.

Bernice Robertson, a Haiti-based analyst for International Crisis Group, said Martelly assumed office “on a wave of optimism,” but she warned of the many challenges ahead.

“He will need to speed up the decision-making process, build national consensus and support, and work with donors and other partners to ensure the resources needed to implement the decisions taken are available.”

He won two-thirds of the vote in the March 20 runoff election, but turnout was low. Some Haitians have reservations about Martelly’s capacity to lead.

“It is total blindness.… We know him as a music star, we don’t know him in terms of governance or taking charge,” said one businessman who requested anonymity.

Gaestel is a special correspondent.

Cory Provost with Haiti's President Michel Martelly

CUNY’s University Student Senate & the cast of FELA!

Proposal to Ease Transfers Stirs Controversy at CUNY

CUNY students Cory Provost (left) and Kevin McKessey say it should be easier to transfer (Beth Fertig)

The City University is trying to solve the longtime problem of students having to repeat classes when their credits don’t transfer — but the proposal is sharply opposed by some faculty.

“If the receiving college doesn’t have that discipline at all there won’t be a match,” Provost Alexandra Logue said. “Or somebody might judge that one course is not the same as another, then there’s not a match.”

No match means the student has to take a similar class all over again at the new campus and is why many CUNY students wind up graduating with well over the 120 credits they need.

The problem comes up frequently when students transfer from one of six CUNY community colleges to a senior college, especially if they haven’t yet earned an associate’s degree.

The proposed solution is to lower the number of liberal arts, or general education, courses required outside a student’s major to 42. Some senior colleges require as many as 60 credits, or half of all courses, in general education.

Although faculty members want to make it easier for students to transfer, many oppose lowering the number of general education credits. Terrence Martell, a professor of finance at Baruch College, said even business students should take philosophy or science.

“We want that because we want them to, trial by fire, to succeed in something outside of the narrow, technical areas we teach in,” he said. “Because we know if they don’t have it they’re not going to make the cut” in a workforce that values critical thinking skills.

But some students say that’s just not practical.

Kevin McKessey, 27, is a senior at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn who’s on the university student senate. He said he had to make up credits at his current school after earning his associates degree at Kingsborough college — costing him time and money.

“I had to take a management internship class when I took a business internship class, which dealt with management, also,” he said. “And there was a marketing class that I had to take over,” as well as a class in music that wouldn’t transfer.

McKessey said students also have trouble getting financial aid when they have to repeat a class.

Cory Provost, 26, is another member of the student senate who wants to change the policy. He’s about to complete his master’s degree in urban policy at Brooklyn College and said he doesn’t buy the argument that academics will suffer if CUNY makes it easier for credits to transfer from one school to another. More credits, he argues, “doesn’t mean higher quality.”

But members of the faculty senate, including Martell of Baruch and Modern Languages Professor Francisco Soto, of the College of Staten Island, worry their schools will lose their individual characters if CUNY lowers the number of required general education credits to 42. Baruch’s current requirement is 60, and the College of Staten Island requires 58, Soto said.

He said 12 of those credits are in languages, meaning the school “would have to cut certain areas of knowledge we think are essential.”

They also worry more students will transfer from community to senior colleges without earning degrees first, setting them up for failure. The community colleges are known for taking a high number of students who need remedial courses in math, writing and English. Faculty propose simplifying the transfer process with better computer systems and by more aggressively informing students about the requirements.

CUNY Provost Logue, however, argues the proposal is aimed at strengthening academics by assuring that the credits that transfer are aligned from one campus to the other. And she said faculty at each campus will play a role in fleshing out the details.

The CUNY Board of Trustees is planning to vote on the plan at the end of June.

By Beth Fertig

Osama Bin Laden

President Obama announces the death of Osama Bin Laden

The announcement of the death of the founder and leader of al Qaeda comes almost 10 years after the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed close to 3,000 people.

By custom, death tends not to be a celebratory moment–and I find that those filled with jubilation are filled so at the notion of Osama bin Laden being caught rather than his death. However, I am reminded of Proverbs 24:17-18 at this same moment.

Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them.

As our emotion pours out over this news, let us continue to pray for our troops whom are still abroad and be mindful of the danger they still face. I commend President Obama’s, and the members of his National Security Team, efforts in bringing closure to everyone that was a New Yorker on Sept. 11, 2001.

We the people…

—

On January 8, 2011 22-year-old Jared Loughner would shoot U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, U.S. District Judge John Roll and 18 others as Giffords was greeting constituents at a supermarket in Tuscon, AZ. Of those shot 6 were pronounced dead including Judge John Roll and Christina Green who was just 9-years old.

Clarence Dupnik, the Pima County sheriff had the following to say:

“The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous, and unfortunately Arizona has become sort of the capital,”…”We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry.”…”The fiery rhetoric that has taken hold in politics may be free speech, but it’s not without consequences”

–

“We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”. Moreover, “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Therefore, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

I chose to amalgamate these powerful words, which are known around the world, in order to showcase the beauty that is our country. These three sentences often stand-alone however; today I find the need for them to coalesce as we stand in awe of the tragic events of January 8^th, 2011.

Make no mistake America’s political history is rife with violence–from the Burr-Hamilton duel in the 1800s to the Kennedy assassination in the 1960′s. However, these incidents cannot be divorced from the civil unrest nor the acrimonious discourse that permeated the atmosphere of the time. Recanting on history one sees how quickly our country is held captive with demagogic and vitriolic rhetoric that bolsters sentiments of hatred and violence which ignites the darker realm of civil unrest.

While Fox, MSNBC, CNN make billions reporting the news centered on political discourse–choosing which legislation is worthy of their “coverage”. Pundits on these networks make their livelihood debating left versus right political paradigms while also forcing the polarization of our country as viewers accept these, often extremely conflicting, views as axioms. I truly believe that our most valuable asset is “we the people” however; I must also believe that our most costly liability is “we the people”. The cognitive immaturity that is prevalent in our society today is what makes me believe in the latter so dearly–we must address this. The onus is on “we the people” if we are to ever have a “more perfect union”.

The power to marginalize our liability is ours–and ours alone. We are all guilty of gravitating towards ideas that do not force us to think critically nor to truly analyze. We seek out news and information that we can easily agree with such that it fits comfortably within the paradigms to which we have held long-time membership.

Understanding our legal system we tolerate many things that stand alone as questionable* however, we have become proactive against others. Terror is more than fire and bombs. Words are powerful, inspiring, uplifting, persuasive—dangerous.

In the wake of the tragic events of 1/8/11 many individuals took a brave step forward to cast their support to defend inflammatory rhetoric based on Constitutional rights. Make no mistake, I support the Constitution. That is why I cannot accept any attempts bastardize it and using the first amendment to protect inflammatory caustic rhetoric is such a case. Yelling “fire!” in a crowded theater or “bomb!” in an airport terminal are instances of inflammatory rhetoric that would cause instantaneous panic—and be followed by carnage. But, let’s move past the Constitution and think about our humanity

Taking a look back to the, now infamous, Terry Jones. Mr. Jones was catapulted in national spotlight as he led a church group to burn copies of the Koran. Such an act was denounced from politicians from Secretary of State Clinton to, now House Speaker, U.S. Rep. John Boehner and Gen. Peterus. Mr. Boehner goes on to say that “Just because you have a right to do something in America does not mean it is the right thing to do. We are a nation of religious freedom, we’re also a nation of tolerance,” Boehner said. “I think in the name of tolerance people ought to really think about the kind of actions they’re taking.”

While Voltaire stated that “I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it” may be the mantra of the day we must be mindful that: Words are powerful, inspiring, uplifting, persuasive—dangerous. Thus, we should: “do to others what you would have them do to you”—Matthew 7:12.

*Please note that Arizona did approve legislation in response to funeral protest that made it difficult for person to protest funerals.

Party and Bullsh*t

The 1st Monday of November has passed (aka Black Solidarity Day). The 1st Tuesday of November has passed (aka Election Day).

The bridge must be repaired.

Founded in 1969, and based off the play “A Day of Absence” by Douglas Ward, Black Solidarity Day has been a staple in most college event (typically with a Black Student Union at the helm) calendars since its inception.

This play illuminates, what can be, a paralytic consequence of the Black impact on society: (adding a New York twist) What would happen if all the Blacks in New York disappeared? What if we push the envelope-what would happen if all the “minorities” in New York disappeared?

Pretty hard to imagine, right? — Now imagine if those same people were able to unify and collectively vote for any candidate (or against any candidate)…could you imagine the political ramifications of such a movement. That’s what Dr. Russell had in mind when he pushed for the creation of this significant day. However, where are we today…some 40+ years later.

I have participated in my fair share of Black Solidarity Day events, even planned a few.  However, yesterday as a panelist at Medgar Evers College-CUNY two statements (well one question and a statement) resonated with me.

A) “I just found out about this event, why weren’t we notified before hand? When parties are advertised we see flyers every where and get emails.” –Student (the answer to this question is what really prompted me to write this post)

This is not the 1st time I’ve heard sentiments such as the aforementioned. In fact, its been rather consistent over the years. While I’m well aware that people, in general, filter out information they wish not to engage in. Thus, despite the numerous emails sent or the dozens of flyers posted around the campus, it wasnt until the student received a text message from a friend would she become aware of the event.

Have we reached the point where “we” will filter away the seriousness of life and succumb to one filled with “party and bullsh*t”?

B) “Voting is a waste of time!”, “All politicians are liars and corrupt, I wont vote for any of them!”, “My vote wont count.”…this is barely the tip of the iceberg of reasons I have heard people say that they don’t vote.  What disheartened me the most is to hear these, what I dub frivolous, excuses from persons that have been systemically disenfranchised from voting (i.e. women, Blacks).

The stakes are far too high to abstain and shy away from participating. By voting and encouraging such practices you send a much different message, perhaps the most important that you are watching over your servant. You are making sure that they are serving your communities and your needs. By abstaining from the electoral process, particularly the voting component thereof, we send a message not only to our Public Servants, but to those that came before us–those that died for us to have the right to participate.

By not voting you are nothing more than a co-conspirator in the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, Fred Hampton….the list goes on.

We have, collectively, navigated away from a movement of continuous progression following the passage of the Civil Rights Act and have reached a echelon of complacency that seems good enough. The moon should only be a pit stop as we continue to reach the stars.

Unfortunately, as we busy ourselves with our day-to-day activities we will most assuredly filter out things that will deviate us from those activities except of course for the “bullsh*t and party”.

Will Obama visit Hampton University??

So a few days ago on Twitter, as I was looking through recent tweets by people I am following, I came across one that stood out:

@MissMedinaJ Miss HU is NOT black… Hmmm

and then more followed:

@MissMedinaJ The bitch is NOT black… And wrote a letter to the local paper… RT @Ms_ISA: Huh?! RT @MissMedinaJ: Miss HU is NOT black… Hmmm

@MissMedinaJ I did NOT attend a HBCU for a white female to represent me.

@MissMedinaJ Do u know why? Bc she doesn’t even attend MAIN campus!!! RT @jayhenny: @jayhenny have u even seen her before??? (via @MissMedinaJ) hell no

@MissMedinaJ RT @Errrkkaa: So whos gonna throw away their childs recruitment letters from Hampton? I kno I will…no HBCU for my children Ivy league only

@MissMedinaJ I said the same thing! RT @Love2bbri: RT @Love_Ley: Token ass Hampton…..lol I bet Howard would neva do no dumb shit like dis!

@MissMedinaJ I don’t want to hear your opinion about #MissHampton being white unless you attend/attended a HBCU #pardonMYback

@MissMedinaJ Conclusion: Because President Obama is black I have to accept a white female as #MissHampton. (Is this what change is really about?)

@MissMedinaJ #MissHampton is white and my intial reaction is disgust but apprently I should be in support of it bc our president is black @blackfacemusic

@MissMedinaJ @blackfacemusic she doesn’t even attend main campus. She attends va beach which has a total of 90students.

@MissMedinaJ @blackfacemusic (cont) she doesn’t represent hu she hasn’t even experienced it

I attempted to ask why my fellow twitterer was upset over a non-black person winning this post, that would in turn represent the almost 6,000 students of this HBCU, Hampton University, the only quasi-response I got was:@MissMedinaJ I don’t want to hear your opinion about #MissHampton being white unless you attend/attended a HBCU #pardonMYback.

This response is the reason for this blog post. So let’s get into the nitty gritty of it all. We have Nikole Churchill, who according to http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/1467 father is from Guam and mother is Italian, that won the Miss Hampton University scholarship pageant. She ran against 9 black students, and to note again, at a Historically Black university. Apparently the charges against her are 1) she doesn’t attend the main campus with the bulk of the population of the university, and instead attends a satellite campus consisting of about 90 students compared to the 5700 on the main campus. 2) she is not black.

Like Ms. Churchill, I attend a satellite campus (that houses roughly 10% of the overall population). Like Ms. Churchill I entered a competition and won, I am the President of the Graduate Student Body at Brooklyn College-CUNY, my major is Urban Policy and Administration and I attend classes at 25 Broadway AKA the Graduate Center for Worker Education at Brooklyn College, a satellite campus (out of borough actually as the main campus is in Brooklyn and my classes are housed in Manhattan). I do struggle to find any sliver of cogency in this claim (1). She is obviously a student at the University so to say she can’t “represent” the university because she doesn’t frequent a particular part of the university is by far the most absurd thing I have heard. I wont even go on any further as I don’t wish to give any credence to this trivial claim. So onto claim (2): She is not black.

Regarding claim (2), I think by asking one simple question we can give validity to this claim: Is being black a requirement to participate in the pageant? If you can answer in the affirmative then this blog is meaningless and I shall concede. (I will be waiting for an answer)

I can’t help but wonder why there has been no uproar over the her ability of being “allowed” to participate in the pageant based on claim (1) or claim (2). Thus I find it hard to understand why the uproar over her winning. Correct me if I am wrong but I do not believe being black is the criteria for being accepted to a HBCU or for being allowed to partake in the campus activities. Again, I find it hard to understand the uproar over her winning.

Lastly, I must address the comment: “@MissMedinaJ I did NOT attend a HBCU for a white female to represent me.”

Food for thought: Hampton University, in the great state of Virginia (birth of slavery in the United States), was one of the many universities birthed by the Freedman’s Bureau. The Freedman’s Bureau was established, to help slaves get education and other social amenities, by President Lincoln and Congress during the last years of the Civil War. Most of the Commissioners or Agents of this Bureau were high-ranking members of the military (all white) and subsequently the majority of HBCU’s are named (in some relation) after their founders (most likely an agent of the bureau). So while you may not want a “white female” representing you, if it wasn’t for a white person (man to be exact) you wouldn’t be where you’re at (literally). Every time you say HU it acknowledges the benevolence of a white man who founded a university to inscribe his legacy in history for centuries to come. Your attendance at this university pays homage to him and your degree, once conferred, establishes you as a representative of him and his university.

Perhaps  @MissMedinaJ is right and Howard wouldn’t do something like this, but perhaps another incident at another HBCU would garner a similar outrage:

Remember this http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,356296,00.html.

Community

My community is where I live. My community is where I sleep. My community is where I go to school. My community is where I interact with my fellow man. My community will dictate my future. My community is where I play ball. My community is where I learn about myself. My community…my community…my community–is not mine. Our community is where our kids play. Our community is where we go to school. Our community  is where we establish ourselves. Our community is where we develop our paths of success. Our community is ours to manage. Our community is ours to organize. Our community is ours to govern. By embracing the mantra: “Think Globally Act Locally” we can make our community, the community.

Pull your pants up and apply youself!!

Every day I encounter this plague that has infested our youth. Our brothers, sisters, cousins, fathers, mothers, friends and foes are slowly being sucked into this abyss and almost nothing is being done. Personally, I can’t stand it. I dare to say that I loathe it more than anything I have ever loathed before. Why, o why do so many choose to let their pants sag to point of undergarment exposure. From the serious lack of comfort from walking, to running, to the way it forces you to adjust the way you walk, I couldn’t and still cannot understand why. Why do people continue to practice this, is it solely a fashion statement? I find it very hard to understand why someone would place themselves through such discomfort to “be with the times”.

While I feel that everyone has the right to wear what you want and how you want to a decent extent, others simply do not. I do not agree with the following ordinances that I am about to mention, but, I do thank these people for their bold statements made by issuing these ordinances and putting light on this troubling issue. Perhaps though someone will find a more feasible solution to this pandemic.

Delcambre, Louisiana: http [:/] /news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6751777.stm

The Town Council, along with the Mayor, passed an ordinance that “expands on the existing state indecent exposure law by adding underwear to the list of forbidden exposures” according to the Town Attorney. For those that think this is racially motivated in a town that is 82.70% White, 14.44% African American, Hispanic or Latino of any race are 1.89% of the population: “White people wear sagging pants, too,” -Mayor Carol Broussard.

Hahira, Georgia: http [:/] /www.valdostadailytimes.com/local/local_story_066233535.html

After debating on the issue of sagging /loose fitting pants the Hahira City Council voted on a an ordinance that would “prohibit citizens from wearing pants that are below the waist and reveal skin or undergarments”. The vote results were 2-2. Mayor Wayne Bullard broke the tie with a vote in favor of the ordinance.

Riviera Beach, Florida:

http [:/] /tri-statedefenderonline.com/articlelive/articles/3213/1/Sagging-Pants–an-update/Page1.html

The ordinance that was passed was deemed unconstitutional after a 17year old was held over night upon being arrested (the 1st known arrest) for sagging pants.

My final thought is that I am not interested in seeing your boxers/briefs nor can I fathom who would but, if you have no sense of shame or privacy then I suppose this “style” is for you.

Thanks Wileen!!!

Fort Negro to Riker’s Island

What you didn’t know about Rikers Island…

On March 5, 1864, a crowd of over 10,000 New Yorkers watched in awe as 1,000 well-disciplined Union army troops left Rikers Island and marched west to the Hudson River, their dark blue uniforms and crisp white gloves and white leggings glistening in the sunlight.

What made this event so unusual was that the soldiers were black.

The 20th Colored Regiment was formed by the New York Union League, who hoped to present the black troops as part of the New Society that would take place once the South was defeated and the country united. George Bliss, a prominent member of the Union League who later became the U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York City, led the effort to raise money for the formation of New York’s three black regiments.

The troops received their training at Rikers Island before being sent to Louisiana. The 20th and the 26th Regiments were part of the 180,000 black soldiers and sailors who served the Union cause. These troops were paid less than half of their white counterparts’ salaries, received inferior equipment, and lived in poor conditions.

Near the end of 1864, Rikers Island was transformed from a camp where soldiers were sent for temporary duty and training to a prisoner of war facility for Confederate soldiers.

The city of New York purchased the island in 1884 from the Riker family, who had settled it in 1638. Today it is New York City’s largest jail facility.

Courtesy of: http/maap.columbia.edu/place/18.html

1936 Inmates