It Takes A Storm To Make Our Community More Peaceful

Imagine that the streets are quiet and peaceful – cars aren't speeding and hoodlums aren't hanging around the recesses of the community waiting to shoot or fight with someone because of a years-old dispute. Imagine people outside helping each other out of a jam and offering to provide assistance instead of leaving someone stranded in the middle of the street.

Of course, to achieve this imaginary “scene,” you'd have to add several feet of snow and blizzard-like conditions to the equation. You'd have to picture residents not being able to leave their homes and cars being buried so deep in the snow that speeding down any block is nearly impossible since the driver's not even getting in their vehicle!

Snowstorm Jonas visits Canarsie Pier

Last Saturday was the first snowstorm of 2016 – a blizzard most city folks hoped would miss us. When we saw the weather forecast earlier in the week, we didn't believe the media hype that the city would be on high alert and that mass transit would shut down as a safety precaution due to rough winds and snowdrifts.

If anyone in the community knows me, they know how adventurous I am and how I don't let challenges stop me from achieving my goals. As a result, I took to the streets Saturday morning in the midst of the blizzard and, I have to be honest, it was more enjoyable than walking local streets on any given day.

Yes, I suited up with two pairs of pants, my clunky waterproof boots and North Face jacket that's made for all-terrain excursions, just to experience the blizzard (and I couldn't go for a morning run, so nothing says “hey legs get moving” like trudging through snow and challenging the cardiovascular system!)

I almost wanted to head back home when I saw that the only place to walk was in the streets. It was too early for homeowners to come out and shovel the walkways. However, there were no cars on the street and the few drivers that came down the block went at a slow and safe pace even though the Sanitation Department plowed some of the major roads.

Rockaway Parkway and Seaview Avenue was deserted...Can you say beautiful???

Some guys were walking along residential streets and two offered to help a woman dig her car out of a huge mound of snow. They were going to charge her $25 – and they were more than happy to go down the rest of the block asking others if they needed help digging out of the tundra too. Can you say courteous? (Even if they're motivated by money – do you see young men in our community offering to help others for a nominal fee at ANY other time?)

Greetings from the blizzard of 2016!

Drivers were extra careful and mindful of city vehicles that had to pass – and they stopped way before the red lights, not taking a chance and speeding past the yellow traffic light. Can you say safer than ever?

It took a snowstorm to bring out the best in people – to make them more cautious and courteous. The community looked so much more beautiful - with winds whipping in every direction and snow blanketing our streets - than it ever looked at 4 p.m. on any clear and warm weekday afternoon with people traveling and causing trouble.

I managed to trek to Canarsie Pier – and it was quite a workout to have to march my legs over what seemed like a foot of snow. I'd never seen the pier look more eerie, dangerous and peaceful at the same time. It was obviously deserted, but that was the BEST part. No one was blasting music in their car, and no one was talking so loud that the residents in Starrett City could hear them (yes, there are some people who make the pier an annoying place to relax!).

Let's get real! There are too many people in our community – drivers, pedestrians and rowdy kids – who ruin a nice, sunny day! It takes a snowstorm to keep everyone inside or stop them from being a danger or annoyance to someone else. Yes, we had kids throwing snowballs and making a bit of a mess – but isn't that better than them getting a hand on a firearm? Sure, even slow-moving cars skidded out of control on the streets in the snow and it didn't stop accidents – but most people were taking it easy - being mindful that they had no control over how their wheels moved.

There was a certain beautiful quality about the community during the snowstorm that sadly doesn't exist when conditions are “normal.” While summer is my favorite season – and it's also the season when the most crime takes place and our quality of life is nearly destroyed – I've found a new reason to say,‘let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...’

We All Have Dreams, But None Of Them Are Coming True

Monday, January 18th was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Children had the day off from school, government offices were closed and the city operated on a “holiday schedule” – meaning there was no mail and our mass transit system ran on a Sunday schedule – and there was no garbage pick-up. So, everyone took a “break” from business and ‘observed’ a holiday they look forward to, simply because they don’t have to be anywhere?

For many of us, we're just dreaming of another day off!

Apparently, local organizations, schools and civic leaders didn’t feel the need to address – or share with our community – this import observation, a day dedicated to a man who had a dream that equality would be feasible and that racial harmony would finally be achieved.

We’ve not achieved any of that – not in over 50 years – if you ask me.

The Canarsie Courier reaches out to local schools, politicians and civic leaders for various quality of life issues. We encourage residents to submit their ideas and opinions and to share with us observances that demonstrate we ARE a community coming together.

Our publication has yet to run stories on how the community is “observing” Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Sure, we can run a press release that’s put out there by all other media outlets – something you can Google on your own without exclusively looking at a community newspaper.

However, in the communities we circulate, NONE of the schools called us about shows, displays or anything they hosted related to the teaching of King’s ideologies. Did any of the local schools have students recite the “I Had A Dream” speech in front of an auditorium?

How about communities where residents are outraged at the “racism” and “injustices” being committed on their streets? Did anyone come out to remember King and his humanitarian efforts? Instead of gang members shooting at each other and innocent bystanders, did they take the day to reflect on how they’re killing each other and destroying their own lives?

For some reason, we haven’t received letters – exclusive to our newspaper – from politicians expressing their disgust with how our community is still plagued by violence and racism despite the Civil Rights movement. Yes, we will get generic statements on the observance of the “holiday” but only on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – not weeks before when a teenager was allegedly gang-raped at a park in Brownsville and not when two teens were shot in East New York at Pennsylvania Avenue.

Who’s responsible for resonating King’s values in the communities where thugs – who are dangerous but seem to want to be treated “equally with respect” by others – walk down the block? Gunmen, drug dealers, rapists and murderers – lurking in our communities – have seemingly obliterated the past and any sentiments that they’re promoting more violence.

Let’s get real! When someone asks me why we didn’t feature anything on Martin Luther King Jr., Day, I can only tell them the truth – that 1) no one submitted material to us or shared events they were hosting and 2) the organizations/schools simply didn't host events commemorating King’s efforts.

Not to be rude, but – in my opinion – hosting an event way after the day’s observed is a little tacky and shows how ill-prepared an organization was for such a prestigious commemoration. In light of everyone saying, “we need to stop the killings” and “take guns off the street,” one date where the nation acknowledges King’s works is NOT enough!

Are educators teaching our children the history of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream and the controversy of today’s Black Lives Matter initiative? While this might be an interesting forum that high school students can host to generate a sense of awareness among themselves, it’s not been brought to our attention. Does that mean these discussions haven’t taken place in ANY of our academic institutions?

In a city where minorities are killing each other and committing acts against each other, it seems history and its “progress” is meaningless! In neighborhoods where minority residents don’t want to be “judged” or “targeted” because of their background, many have NO problem targeting each other and segregating themselves from well-off communities that see very little violence. Slaughtering each other in broad daylight…stabbing someone because they looked at you “the wrong way”…Is THIS what Martin Luther King, Jr. had in mind for the future of our country?

All we seem to care about is having a three-day weekend so we can have more parties wherein gunshots will ring out, taking more lives.

In an effort to get the community more involved, let’s prepare for Black History Month! If your organization, school or center is hosting an event during February in honor of Black History Month, don’t wait until March to keep the community in-the-know.

We can’t force residents, school administrators or civic leaders to host events in a timely fashion – and we can’t threaten anyone to send us material about an epic leader whose words have seemingly vanished from the bloody city streets. If a “movement” towards peace is going to take place, we need to realize that peaceful initiatives established by historians aren’t working either.

Hey Educators –Every Day Should Be Nutritious For Our Children!

Have you kept your New Year’s resolution? All of that healthy eating and “limiting” snacks from your diet… If you did, then good for you! If you’re a parent, you should be doing an even better job of encouraging your children to eat healthy too. I know – that’s NOT reality and parents have no clue what crap their kids consume when they’re not at home...when they're at the bus stop or hanging out with friends after school.

As we all know, the Department of Education (DOE) tries to convince parents that if it wasn’t for school, their children wouldn’t be fed every day (remember when Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina said that if kids didn’t come to school during one of the city's snowstorms, they wouldn’t get the nutritious meals they need? Way to hand it to the parents for starving their children!)

Last month, Chancellor Farina made another great announcement - that one day a week, Thursdays, would be set aside to incorporate locally grown food in school lunch. The program is called “New York Thursdays” and aims at teaching children about local farming and making healthier food choices.

Are these kids really interested in eating carrots, tomatoes, greens and using herbs on their foods?

If you ask me, the DOE is pushing a culinary system on our children that will only last as long as they're in school – IF they want to eat that healthy stuff in the first place! Will this stop them from scarfing down chips, McDonald's artery-clogging goodies or fried chicken wings from the Chinese place nearest the train station?

EXACTLY!!!

One of the most interesting changes being brought to some local schools that I think children will benefit from is the introduction of hydroponic classrooms – where they will grow their own produce and incorporate urban farming into their studies. Yummy! All those bushels of lettuce and collard greens! Once children are done growing their own vegetables and fruit, they can have a feast! We all know how much every kid loves vegetables! Surely, if they haven't trashed whatever produce was plopped on their lunch trays in the cafeteria, they're getting their daily value...

Wait a minute...Let's get real! These are GROWING children! They also need meat, fish and substantial foods that will add protein and other vitamins to their diet. Right? How about teachin' these kids today about the value of catching a tuna or salmon steak? The meaty foods they can't “harvest” in the classroom are the ones they eat in the most unhealthiest ways! 

Fish sticks??? Chicken nuggets? YUCK! 

Take these kids out on a yacht once a week – take them fishing and show them how hard fisherman work...Take them to a farm where chickens and cattle are raised and REALLY get into the farming feel – show them in person what parts of the animal they're eating when they go into McDonald's or Burger King – and how much of those puny chickens they are consuming. 

Of course, it's too costly to “grow” salmon, tuna, grade-A sirloin meat (the healthier choice for chopped meat consumption) on school grounds! It takes up too much room in a schoolyard to plant banana and orange trees – fruits that should be part of every child's daily diet. 

Noooo...We're gonna simply provide students with “samples” - once a week - of healthy and locally grown produce when it takes a whole damned farm of animals and a sea of fish to provide them with the nutrients, minerals and protein they need to operate and function every day! 

Don't get me wrong, launching New York Thursdays is a great way to keep nutritious foods growing and circulating in our community. But children need more than just access to healthy foods on a special and designated day.

Should we also mention that PARENTS need to get involved?

Stop feeding your kids greasy crap! Stop piling up on the potato chips and snacks for crying out loud! If the only place children are learning to appreciate healthy food (whether they eat it or throw it away in the trash) is in school, I think that's really sad and pathetic.

However, according to the New York State’s “State of Obesity” website, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that childhood obesity rates have been decreasing significantly over the past several years. Whether it’s thanks to “healthier choices” or what they’re being in served in school, it's a relief to know that children are on the right track to eating better foods. Who knows? Maybe children are losing weight because they don't even EAT the healthy lunches that are served to them! 

Kudos to Chancellor Farina – who I can’t wait to see with a rake in her hands ready to do some harvesting when the hydroponic classrooms debut in our schools. Here’s to doing whatever it takes for students to get their nutrients and grow in the right direction!