Out of Bushwick

On July 31, 2008 CNN's Soledad O'Brien traveled with 30 Brooklyn schoolchildren on a volunteer mission to serve the impoverished and orphans in South Africa. These teenagers are mostly from Bushwick, Brooklyn -- a community of about 109,000 people located five miles from Manhattan. For most, it’s their first time away from home. The children on this trip to South Africa are what educators and social workers call "at-risk" -- at risk of having babies as teenagers; at risk of never finishing high school or achieving their dreams; at risk of never knowing the world beyond their neighborhood.

Bushwick is mostly a working class neighborhood where families have often struggled. For years it was a community with a thriving drug trade, severely under-achieving schools, extreme poverty and a staggering rate of teenage pregnancy. It was ravaged by fires and looting during the summer of 1977 and hit hard by the crack epidemic in the 1980s. The community is recovering now, but half of the children under age 18 still live below the poverty line. A quarter of the adults never make it past the ninth grade and more than half never graduate from high school.

The South Africa trip is Malaak Compton-Rock's brainchild -- to broaden the horizons of young teens and give them perspective on their own lives. These 30 children, between the ages of 12 to 16, have been paired up with college-aged mentors and brought to South Africa by Malaak Compton-Rock, the wife of comedian Chris Rock. She brought them to volunteer -- to serve the impoverished and the AIDS orphans South Africa, a country with the highest HIV-infected population in the world; a country with 1.4 million AIDS orphans. Compton-Rock has carved her own niche in community service. She often quotes her mentor Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children's Defense Fund: "Service is the rent we pay for living."

I believe by traveling you open up your life and your mind. You no longer think locally, you start to think globally and internationally, outside the confinements of your neighborhood and it gives you a sense of confidence. In the United States, even in Bushwick, we have certain services that we need to understand and need to take advantage of. I am talking about things that we take for granted like access to free public education, food, knowledge and the ability to move up the ladder in life – things reserved for only the rich in most developing countries.

When the Bushwick travelers returned to the U.S. their journey did not end. Malaak Compton-Rock has required all of the children selected for the trip to sign one-year contracts to become "global ambassadors."
As ambassadors they are required to tell their friends and neighbors about their experiences -- through writing, blogging, photographs and speeches. What did they learn and discover about themselves, and the world? All the kids have been asked to blog about the joys and the challenges, the things they learned and the disappointments. The Bushwick teens came to make a difference in the lives of these vulnerable kids in South Africa. It will be equally interesting to see how South Africa's children make a difference in the lives of these children from Bushwick.

Cut and paste to get more information:

http://www.angelrockproject.com/arp/projects/journey_for_change.asp

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/06/01/btsc.bia.south.africa/index.html#cnnSTCPhoto

First African Playboy Playmate of the Year

Tanzanian-born model Ida Ljungqvist recently received a necklace from Hugh Hefner in recognition as the 2009 Playboy Playmate of the Year at the Playboy Club at The Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was Playmate for March 2008.

The 27-year-old African/Swede stunner was discovered while working at a Bebe clothing boutique on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills by 2007 Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood. She made history as the magazine’s 50th woman to hold the title, and the first African to do so. She is tri-lingual (English, Swahili and Swedish, and), and has a degree in fashion design and marketing and plans to study economics. Ljungqvist quit her job at Bebe a month later and appeared on the cover of Playboy in March of last year. She said her parents were hardly proud when she told them she was going to bare all for Playboy. “My mother didn’t speak to me for a month,” she said. She hopes being Playmate of the Year opens doors for her; she'd love to act. And from now on, she says, she's keeping her clothes on in photos.

Ida Ljungqvist was born to a Tanzanian mother and a Swedish father and she traveled the globe while her father worked for UNICEF. In Africa she has lived in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Zimbabwe; in Asia, she lived in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand; in Europe, she lived in France, the U.K., Sweden, and Denmark. She currently lives in California.

Mama Africa Dies at 76

South African music legend, Miriam Makeba has died after taking ill in Italy following a concert. Miriam Makeba, known as “Mama Africa”, was the legendary voice of the African continent that became a symbol of the fight against apartheid in her home country of South Africa. Miriam Makeba was born in Johannesburg on March 4, 1932. She made an international farewell tour in 2005.

Mama Africa captured international attention as vocalist for the South African group, The Manhattan Brothers, while they toured the United States in 1959. The following year, when she wanted to return home to bury her mother, the apartheid state revoked her citizenship and later banned her music. As a result she spent 31 years in exile, living in the United States and later in Guinea.

She became the first Black African woman to receive a Grammy Award which she shared with folk singer Harry Belafonte in 1965. Two years later her fame sky-rocketed with the recording of the all-time hit “Pata Pata” (Xhosa for “touch, touch” describing a township dance) although she unknowingly signed away all royalties on the song.

Miriam Makeba returned to South Africa in the 1990s after Nelson Mandela was released from prison but it took a cash-strapped Makeba six years to find someone in the local recording industry to produce a record with her. Then she released “Homeland” which contains songs describing her joy of being back home after the many years in exile. She testified twice before the United Nations about apartheid.

Family and friends thousands of fans gathered in Johannesburg to pay their respects as she was laid to rest this past weekend. Mama’s ex-husband Hugh Masekhela dedicated a moving musical moment to her life. More fans and friends gathered in New York City at the Poisson Rouge for the “Mama Afrika: A Tribute to Miriam Makeba Concert” hosted by Harry Belafonte. Adding to the memorable night were performances by Les Nubians, Somi , Randy Weston, Art D’Luggof, Wumni, Gino Sitson, Bakithi, Robbi Kumalo, and many more.

“Skin”: Shows the Dilemma that Apartheid Brings One Family

Skin is a story that begins in South Africa in 1955. Sandra (Sophie Okonedo) was born to two White Afrikaner parents in rural South Africa. But a genetic throwback causes her skin to be dark and her hair tightly curled. The government’s rigid apartheid system was faced with a serious dilemma. Should Sandra be classified as White or Black? For Sandra and her family, the complications ran far deeper.

Skin follows Sandra as she grows up in a society where color decides everything. She is granted admission to an all-White school, but suffers daily torment from her classmates. Her father is no more liberal than any other rural Afrikaner of his time; he can barely accept his daughter’s dark features, let alone the neighbors’ constant gossip. Even after tests establish that he is in fact Sandra’s biological father, the plain fact of her difference complicates life. Only her mother offers real emotional support, but it comes at a great price to both mother and daughter.

As Sandra grows up and falls in love with a Black man, Okonedo reveals the full spectrum of her character: the childhood hurt, the uncertain identities and, in time, her pride as an African woman.

The Soul of Essence: Susan L. Taylor

In an industry where corporate loyalty has gone the way of the dodo bird, Susan L. Taylor has been synonymous with the Essence brand since the magazine's launch in 1970. After working nearly four decades at Essence magazine, editor and author Susan L. Taylor has ventured out to devote more time to her mentoring campaign. Ms. Taylor is now focusing much of her time to building the National Cares Mentoring Movement, which she founded as Essence Cares. Her goal for the mentoring movement is to have “every able Black adult” mentor an at-risk youth.

Her success is all the more remarkable considering that she was once a single mother of daughter, Shana-Nequai and they were barely scraping by. When she was 24, she found herself separated, with rent due, car broken, and three dollars to her name. One Sunday morning in November of 1970, Taylor was snowed under by pain in her chest and experiencing trouble breathing. The New York City emergency room doctor who admitted her diagnosed her with acute anxiety and prescribed a heavy dose of relaxation. Leaving the hospital feeling fearful and hopeless, Taylor stumbled on inspiration on her way home.

Walking up Broadway, she came to a church and went in. She had not attended church in years, but sitting in a back pew in her jeans and leather jacket, she heard a sermon that changed her life. "The preacher said that our minds could change our world. That no matter what our troubles, if we could put them aside for a moment, focus on possible solutions and imagine a joyous future, we would find a peace within, and positive experiences would begin to unfold," she recalled in “In the Spirit.” She decided to try it and gathered up some of the small pamphlets in the church vestibule. Little did she know she was taking the first step toward replacing her fears with faith. “It was the beginning of my realization that our thoughts create our reality,” said Taylor. She held on, and eventually her part-time job at the new magazine “Essence” became full-time, providing direction for her career.

Born in the Harlem section of New York City to West Indian parents on January 23, 1946, Taylor was raised in a strict yet loving environment. She was taught about the determination of her forebears to make a better life. She heard stories of her maternal grandmother's bravery--leaving a broken marriage and six children in Trinidad in 1916, settling in Harlem, working and saving and bringing her children and mother to the United States by 1925, and doing battle with anyone and anything that stood in the way of her family's forward movement, including racist police, school principals, and even the federal government. "Like the women of her time, my grandmother didn't wait for change; she initiated it," Taylor noted in her column in Essence.

Taylor's father, Lawrence, arrived in Harlem from St. Kitts, West Indies, in the early 1920s and opened a clothing store with Taylor's mother, Violet. But by the early 1960s, the street on which the store was situated had become a "war zone" of drug-related crime and after 30 years, the business closed. Noting the "disturbing sadness" of many Black male youths in the 1990s, Taylor remembered seeing similar “deep, quiet kind of sadness” in her father’s eyes when his clothing store, the family's main means of support, closed.

In her Essence columns, Taylor also recognized a central trait she had inherited from her mother. "My mother always said that one of her greatest frustrations with me was my mouth," Taylor wrote. "But I come by my strong opinions naturally: In that respect I am my mother's child." In fact, Taylor celebrates her power to speak out. "It is not for nothing that Black women have acquired a reputation for speaking out. Historically, our words have been our only weapons, and our voices often our only defense.... But let us not forget the power of our collective voice when it is united--in prayer or in protest or in demand."

In her early 20s Susan Taylor trained in acting with the Negro Ensemble Company. She also founded her own company, Nequai Cosmetics, obtaining a license as a cosmetologist and developing beauty products for Black women. Taylor's experience with Nequai attracted the editors of Essence, which led to her first free-lance articles there.

After divorcing her first husband, William Bowles, Taylor struggled as a single parent in personal and financial crisis. She credits her daughter with helping her remain focused through these hard times. "After the breakup of my first marriage, I realized it was my sole responsibility to feed, clothe and educate my daughter," she was quoted as saying in Memphis, Tennessee's Tri-State Defender. "This empowered me and compelled me to live my life with purpose. My daughter has been my anchor," said Taylor. Her daughter accompanied her everywhere while she pursued her career. In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Taylor recollected her early days at Essence, explaining, "I just decided that rather than limit myself because I was a mother, I'd take her everywhere and expose her to everything. She was hanging around these offices when she was two."

Taylor's rise to the top at Essence took ten years. While friends moved from one magazine to another, Taylor stayed on at Essence. "There were some moments of self-doubt, but the bottom line was that I was still challenging myself. And the waiting paid off." Taylor moved from the part-time position of free-lance beauty editor, to the full-time staff position of fashion and beauty editor, and eventually became editor-in-chief, in 1981.

By the late 1980s Essence had a paid circulation of 800,000 and an estimated "pass-along" circulation of some 4 million, of whom about one-fourth were male. When asked what she hoped to communicate with the magazine, Taylor told Cosmopolitan, "We're saying, 'You're beautiful and you're intelligent and you can do [it].' We try to deliver the strategic information and the inspiration to help Black women make a triumph of their lives." Taylor asserted to the Los Angeles Times that Essence was one of the first magazines to consider in print the difficult subjects of incest, drug use, and rape. The publication's coverage has ranged widely, from interviews with figures like Winnie Mandela, a leader in South Africa's anti-apartheid movement, to features on romantic meals for two, male-female relationships, hair-styling tips, and spa and vacations.

In addition to her success editing Essence, Taylor has also excelled as a business executive and in television. During the 1980s, she became vice-president of the magazine's publisher, Essence Communications, and the host/executive producer of the television show Essence, the Television Program, a 30-minute interview series produced in New York and syndicated to 55 network affiliates and independent stations. The show ran for four seasons in more than 60 countries. During this period Taylor also returned to school to finish her degree at Fordham University. She later received an honorary doctorate from Lincoln University.

During much of her tenure at Essence, Taylor has maintained a column titled "In the Spirit." In addition to autobiographical reflections, she has addressed such diverse topics as sexuality, domestic violence, male-female relations in the Black community, the Gulf War, the beating of Rodney King, the meaning of Africa for Black Americans, and Black history. Offering her insights in the form of general advice, Taylor frequently stresses the need for positive and empowering thought--for spirit and faith--among Black women and throughout Black America in the ongoing personal and collective struggle against racism.

In 1993 Taylor collected a number of these essays and new ones for her book, In the Spirit: The Inspirational Writings of Susan L. Taylor. "In the Spirit is a deeply personal book," Taylor wrote in the preface. "It's about my healing and yours. It contains the seeds I want to plant in our hearts and within our universal garden so that we can uplift our people and ease the suffering in our world." Publishers Weekly commended the book, particularly the author's style, warmth, and generosity in revealing herself. Library Journal highly recommended it, noting that it was written "first of all for Black women," yet still "appeals to common humanity while encouraging transcendence." In the Spirit became a national best-seller. She has also written and co-authored several books including Confirmation: The Spiritual Wisdom That Has Shaped Our Lives.

Taylor travels widely to address conferences for Black women and to speak on the state of Black America. The African Women on Tour conference, which was held in various cities in the U.S., featured workshops, motivational speakers, and entertainment. In her address as keynote speaker, Taylor urged "quiet time" for focus and critical thought. "We need to know what our needs are and not let others tell us what are needs are," she proclaimed, as reported by Malaika Brown of the Los Angeles Sentinel. "It's just time for us to do the work and we know what the work is. What we have to become are critical thinkers."

In South Africa, Chinese is the New Black

A high court in South Africa ruled on Wednesday that Chinese-South Africans in the country will be reclassified as ‘Black,’ a term that includes Black Africans, Indians and others who were subject to discrimination under apartheid. As a result of this ruling, Chinese will be able to benefit from government affirmative action policies aimed at undoing the effects of apartheid. In 2006, the Chinese Association of South Africa sued the government, claiming that its members were being discriminated against because they were being treated as Whites and thus failed to qualify for business contracts and job promotions reserved for victims of apartheid. The association successfully argued that, since Chinese-South Africans had been treated unequally under apartheid, they should be reclassified in order to redress wrongs of the past. The Chinese have thrown a lot of money into all parts of Africa in the past few years and are becoming an economic force throughout the world. Looks like in South Africa their money has out done Michael Jackson. They didn’t have to dye themselves to change color. And since Tiger Wood’s mom is Taiwanese, he can move to South Africa and become all-Black.

This is not the first time the ethnic status of Chinese in South Africa has changed. In fact, the racial classification of Chinese-South Africans has often shifted with the nation’s political climate and its international relations. The first significant group of Chinese came to South Africa in the early 20th century, before a formal system of apartheid existed, to work in the gold mines. They were not encouraged to settle permanently and by 1910 almost all the mine workers had been repatriated. Those who remained struggled with racism and lived in separate communities based on language, culture and socio-economic status.

As apartheid took hold with the ascendancy of the Afrikaner government in the late 1940s, the Chinese were classified as ‘colored,’ forced to live apart from Whites, and were denied educational and business opportunities along with the right to vote. But after South Africa established an economic alliance with Taiwan in the 1970s, Taiwanese immigrants were welcomed as “honorary Whites,” and other Chinese in South Africa began to be treated more like Whites. Although they never attained the formal “honorary White” status of Taiwanese, Koreans and Japanese in South Africa and couldn’t vote, Chinese-South Africans were no longer required to use segregated facilities, and in the early 1980s they were exempted from some of the discriminatory laws that applied to other non-Whites.

Since the apartheid ended in the early 1990s, the ethnic status of Chinese has remained in a gray area, though they’ve generally been lumped together with Whites and denied the post-apartheid benefits available to other non-White ethnic groups. Since 1994, South Africa has seen waves of immigrants and investment from China, and today there are as many as 300,000 Chinese living in the South Africa. But the new court decision is unlikely to benefit most of them or trigger another mass migration– it applies only to ethnic Chinese who were South African citizens before 1994 (and their descendants), a much smaller number of around 10,000 to 12,000.

After World War II, Asian babies with Black G.I. dads were shipped off to South America and South Africa, now…Wow, everyone wants to be Black!

Someday, we will all just be people.