qbrooklyn1056

[qbrooklyn1056]

We Belong Too!

Black and Latinos have been displaced in New York City school’s systems for a very long time. Let's talk about a time where Blacks/Latinos were in place with these specialized high schools. In the late 70s and 80s Black/Latinos were in these specialized schools in dozens. Throughout the years this has declined drastically, because of gentrification, wealth, and power, now these schools are filled with Whites/Asian, with Asian taking the lead in these specialized high schools. This makes it harder for disadvantaged children to even get their applications looked at. Schools like Brooklyn Tech, Stuyvesant High, and Bronx High School of Science were once seeing high numbers of Black/Latino students. You have former students and people of the community, and even Mayor Bill De Blasio is getting in on this topic and is causing a lot of controversy.

Stuyvesant high school seems to be one of the schools that a lot of Black/Latino’s teens were able to attend. There was a special placement test that you had to take to be accepted to the school and all though got many minorities placed in these specialized schools. This same test would also be the reason for so many other minorities not to get in, till this day this is a big issue/topic. Like back in the day, these schools were already coming from segregation, so it’s not like it's far-fetched that a lot of minorities would attend these schools anyway. There was hope in the 70s, with the raise of Black/Latino students in these gifted schools.

A lot of these students were from underprivileged families and low-income neighborhoods. They had hard work ethics and drive, and had to study twice as hard to even get a chance to take the placement test to enter these schools. The hunger and fight in those future Lawyer's, Anthropologists, and Scientists is what made them who they are today. I bet these teenagers thought they had started a long-time goal, which was to have more people who looked like them attend these "Gifted " schools. How was they supposed to know that after them the number of minorities in elite high school would almost not exist. Not because the children aren't smart, but because some didn't feel a need for minorities to attend schools with their will to do kids, or some felt they were being bumped because of affirmative action. Whatever the reasons are, we should not still be having the same debate in this day and age, from any other people or will to do with people.

It seems like in the 90s things got worse. You still had some minorities in these elite schools but very few as the previous years. It made it seem like all the white/Asians were the only smart people for a while. You had low-income children who were smart but didn't have the money or didn't even get a chance to take the placement test because it seemed like the school met their minority quote or something. This was so unfair to a lot of Blacks/Latinos, because if you don't know, I'm here to tell you, Blacks/Latinos are some of the most gifted and creative people you will ever come across, because they are born with so much flavor. That’s could be why you do see a lot of minorities at performing arts schools. (The elite performing art schools also are biased when selecting students, but that is another topic). But, what about the minorities that are just as book smart as the next person, just always don't get the opportunity to show it. Plus, test prep is always where a lot of students take when trying to get into one of these schools, but the problem is, the cost starts at $1000, and most low-income families can't afford that. That seems like a way to keep a certain class of people out of these schools, knowing certain people can't afford it. This is why programs for people of color are so important to have so that our children can be on the same playing field as the next.

I spoke with somebody who was around and went to school in New York at the time. My neighbor Mr. Carlos Ramos, whose 57 said back then it was more pride and seem like way more value in going to school back then 

ME: Mr. Ramos how did it feel going to an elite school back in the late 70s early 80s?

CR:  It felt like winning the lottery, when you see/or hear you got accepted to one of these great schools. This is because, back then times were really hard, and me and my family lived in Bushwick. This is the time when the crack epidemic was happening and wasn't safe at all to be in my neighborhood. 

ME: How many minority students did you see in your school if you can recall, also what school did you go to? 

CR: I was accepted into Brooklyn Technical High School, in the downtown Brooklyn area. It was mostly Asian kids and whites, but at that time we did have a good two hand full of minority students. I know it doesn’t sound like a lot but I promise you it was.

Me: Were you nervous at all going to an Elite school?

CR: I knew I was just as smart and worked twice as hard to get into that school and nobody was going to stop me. NOBODY! I was at times a little fearful, because as you know racial tensions in this country seem to always be high. Overall, I knew how to defend myself.  I mean I was raised with 10 brothers.  Lol.

ME: Are you still friends with any of the minorities who went to Brooklyn Tech with you? Also, why do you think there is a lack of minority students in these elite schools in this day and age. 

CR: Yes. I have built lifetime friends with a lot of them, not just my minority peers. We are all doing really great.  I’m a computer engineer/Bio scientist, and some of them are lawyers, doctors, and high-priced realtors. To answer the second part, I believe the reason you see a lack of diversity in these elite schools is because they don’t want the playing field to be equal.  Too many minorities are making something out themselves these days, and white race doesn’t like that. We’re owning too much property for them, so they're making up laws that you never heard of, or locking minorities up at a higher rate, so that our youth won’t succeed.

Back in, I believe 2009 former Mayor Michael. R. Bloomberg "implemented a citywide test-based threshold for gifted and talented programs." (ES) This was supposed to be a way for the city to diversify these elite schools but it backfired and excluded even more Black/Latinos. A lot of these areas where some of these elite schools are placed are in wealthy neighborhoods that don't want what they call people from the ghetto entering their schools or being around their kids. In fact, our current Mayor Belsio is trying to do away with placement tests in general, which is the way to get into the school. This would eliminate the top performing students and place over 50 % of Black/Latinos in these schools and Asian students would lose half of their spots. As you see in the charts Asian have become the leaders of specialized schools, so honestly, they can just get put on another schools list, because honestly speaking they still may get picked over a Black/Latino person in the next school anyway. I'm just saying they basically have a better shot at getting in any elite school, than Black/Latinos. This is causing wealthy parents to sue the school district over feeling their kids are getting mistreated and it’s not fair to have these kids from the ghetto go to school with their "precious and brilliant, perfect kids" YEAH RIGHT!!!!! The ones from the low-income backgrounds are the one who should be given a chance to show what they can do, since it seems like everyone knows what the kids already in those schools can do. It's like saying we never heard of somebody having a lot of money or going to an elite school would commit a crime... Lol. We all know that’s B.S.

Don’t get me wrong Blacks/Latinos have come a long way and are making history in this world today, but to get the same respect and options is what we need just as much. Let kids be kids and let kids be great. How can they be great or all they can be if the people leading them can't even get it together for them.

[qbrooklyn1056]

We Can do it, and we will!

Minorities always seem to get the shitty end of the stick, and that been the basis for my journal entries. From poverty, to drugs, to city agencies failing the black/brown communities. This goes for the workforce as well; do you know that most minorities get paid less than their white coworkers? The gap pay between white males and minority women are huge in numbers, even white women still make more than minority women. An article named “The journalist Resources” it states “Black and Hispanic faculty earn lower salaries than their white peers at American public universities. But the wage gap between men and women is even larger, a new study finds”. I know it may be hard to believe that in 2021 women whom seem to work as hard or harder than men, would still be making way less than anybody. Let alone way less than a white man, who 9/10 has a minority woman working right under him and doing most of the work.

 

It seems women of color have been the dominant ones from the beginning of times. You have to think about it, timing obviously was different all the way back in the day, but these women had to raise their own kids, somebody, else’s kids, and going the fields to pick cotton, fruit, or coco leaves. We're talking blacks, Hispanic, Latinos, Indians, a lot of people of color went through these hardships for years to come. You would think after the women March and all the organizations of the 50s and 60s would have stop all this foolishness about women getting paid the equal rights as men. Women can birth children and still get the job done from what I witnessed over the years from my own family.

How is it that a person can go to the same school as another peer, get the same offer, and work twice as hard. To only find out your white male colleague gets paid three times the amount that you do, and you guys work the exact same job, but you work longer hours and twice as hard. That’s not just unfair many people will find that to be unjust overall. You are basically taking a person kindness for weakness, and you don’t think their worth their work value. That’s a big slap in the face to women, who had to go to college like everybody else, they collected tons of debt like everybody else, and had to sacrifice a lot of things to get to where they need to be. You are still basically working a person like a paid slave, as they reap very little benefits. These women have families to raise and the sad part is a lot of their children’s fathers are not around, so they need every penny doing it by themselves.

I’ve heard many, many times this is a white man world! This seems to be proven plenty of times, you can see how white males are handled by police, or how many of them may get a head without having degrees or any credentials besides being daddy’s little boy. My thing is, other races are like Chinese are said to be smart, blacks, stronger, Latinos creative and etc. How is it that everybody else do all these great things but the white man gets to take credit and get paid the big bucks for it? It might have something to do with that Christopher Columbus trash story that been passed down to generation after generations. This is what make the white men feel so powerful, if you ever hear an argument instead entitled white American male, they say they all say the same thing. They found this country and it belongs to them, blah, blah, blah. If that really the case they should do their own damn labor work to keep this country up, instead of the hard under paid minorities.

Women are the very well needed in all business, because they see things that men may not see and put clarity into a situation. Who’s to say that the white male who is getting paid more is the better professor anyway! I can honestly say some of my best professors were women, and I don’t know if its because, they are natural born nurtures, but they take their time and get the job done. They help their students to understand what they are doing wrong and show them a way to get the answer where the students will never forget the methods taught by them. Women should get paid just as much as men, because we as a nation don’t need any more steps backwards. What’s going to be next, minorities can’t vote unless they own property like back in the days. We must continue to fight for what’s right.

[qbrooklyn1056]

El angelito que cambió NYC!

The lack of resources when it comes to children should never be an issue. Why is it that rich children get treated so, much better than less fortunate children? Aren't children, children and they all should be loved and tread equally? This is no where near the case for most poor children. The system seems like they fail to protect black and brown babies, like to them its not as important as finding justice for white baby. When describing children, you think of lovable, sweet and some of the smartest little humans you’ll come across. Children are the key to joy some may say and their pure innocence makes up for some of the most hilarious and memories moments. What happens when you have people who use their children innocence for their own personal gains, and the lack of a system making sure putting the safety of children needs at top priority. You get a dead child and a ton of excuses. Either way, 6-year-old Elisa Izquierdo, who would have been 32 years old this year, but instead is resting in Cypress Hills Cemetery. This would be at the hands of the people who she should’ve been most protected by.

Elisa Izquierdo was born on February 11th 1989, in Brooklyn NY, at Woodhull hospital. She was born to Gustavo Izquierdo, who was a Cuban immigrant dancer, and her mother Awilda Lopez who was Puerto Rican. The pair met in a homeless shelter in Fort Greene Brooklyn, where Izquierdo was a caretaker, and she was a resident of the shelter. Two years into the relationship Lopez got pregnant with Elisa. Izquierdo would break up with Lopez after discovering she was heavy into using crack cocaine, and that was actually part of the reason she was into the shelter anyway. She would lose her two oldest kids to child welfare (Now ACS), the same year Elisa was born. Elisa had crack cocaine in her system and Elisa was permanently place with her father. He made sure she was his world and got her into a good school, but a health condition would interfere with him paying for Elisa schooling. Says the daily news, who covered the whole story throughout the trail.

Should a parent that had been on drugs get their children back? For most, I would say, Hell No, not untroubled the child is 17 and older. This way the child can fight back or speak up against the abuse if its happening. Plus,, most abuse patents, usually only go after the weak and small, because they can't fight back. Now, the same year her mother claimed to completely drug treatment and had an apartment on Manhattan Lower East side, Rutgers Houses projects. She was now married to a maintenance worker named Carlos Lopez. Lopez was granted unsupervised visits every second weekend. This is where her two oldest siblings would tell family, that Elisa was being abused and lock in a cupboard by their mom and step-dad. (Family members did nothing). While Elisa would return home and begin bedwetting and had scars all over including her genitalia. She would vomit after coming from her mom house and would refuse to go in bathrooms. (Information also provided by the daily news), I don't know about most people, but if a child is showing all these signs, something is very wrong. This is nothing you sweep under a rug this is something the U.S. Marshall's should even be notified of. This little girl was being treated like a human punching bag, all for just being herself. Elisa story should be made into a movie or shown at them programs for people who abuse kids. Should also be shown to new parents, so they can have an understanding of the real world. Even people thinking about having a baby Should see this story, so they know how much work kids are but they may also come to realize they're not ready for a child.

Her father is the type of dad I believe anybody wouldn't want as a dad or any woman would love to have a baby by him, because of how much he cared and loved his daughter. He was a real standup guy who just wanted the best for his baby girl. He never could imagine that the person he had a baby with, was the devil in the flesh. Himand teacher notice the bruises, and she said she didn’t want to go back to her house ever again. Elisa also, told a social worker what had happened, and Izquierdo tried everything to stop the visitation rights, but the courts said she could continue to see her daughter, but under the conditions she doesn’t hit her child Izquierdo would purchase tickets for Cuba for the date of May 26, 1994, he planned on moving him and Elisa there. He would be rushed to the hospital in May, finding that he had Lung Cancer, he would pass on the same day him and his daughter was supposed to start their new life May 26, 1994. The director of the school still tried to report the mother after the father died because the school was worried. Since he wasn’t there to fight for her anymore. I sometimes wonder why God took him away from that Elisa, because she really needed him at this time, but even though this story is tragic. It's because of Elisa's story a rules and regulations have change when it comes to children.

This is were we see things get really bad for little Elisa. This is were child welfare dropped the ball over and over. This is were this beautiful little girl will lose her life because everyone around her was dropping the ball. Her mother would get temporary custody after she filed a permanent custody order of Elisa, Izquierdo family would challenge the decision, Lopez lawyer made her seem like a saint, who wasn’t going to use drugs again, and Elisa wanted to be with her biological mother. Judge Phoebe Greenbaum approved permanent custody in September 1994. Elisa was withdrawn from private school and sent to public school 126 in Manhattan. She was said to be “uncommunicative, emotionally disturbed, and urinated often”. Also, the principle at the new school said “Elisa was tearing out hair and walking with difficulty.” In 1995, some ones sent an anonymous letter to child welfare and said Lopez cut off Elisa hair and was locking her in dark rooms. The school kept reporting and child welfare kept saying “Not reportable “due to lack of evidence. The evidence was obviously there. It was supposed to be a caseworker checking on Elisa all the time. Lopez back on drugs and that spring withdrew Elisa from 126 and didn’t enroll her another school. She was in her six child and but Elisa for some reason was always her target. Why wasn't this judge disbarred? This is a slap in the face to any child going through abuse. You are basically giving the abuser a pass to do whatever they want to the child with no consequences. Do you really think that a person on drugs, who beats her child everyday, is going to change overnight? I'm here to tell you absolutely not, Not when they don't even like there own child. I believe a lot of these people should have been brought up on charges and given prison time to show the world we will not tolerate this kind of abuse.

To imagine this poor little girl being beating and abused by somebody that she hope would protect, turned out to be a monster. The mother was an evil women with real problems, besides drug use. In my opinion she knew exactlywhat she was doing, because she didn'treat all her kids that way or even think about doing half the things she did to Elisato the others. I mean this women made this child. eat her own feces, sexually assaulted with a hairbrush, hair mopped with the floor, and way more horrible things. Carlos Lopez would beat Elisa and the oldest two because they weren’t his. November 22nd. Lopez would phone her sister and says her daughter was “retarded on the bed" and she had fluid coming from her nose and mouth, which was said to be brain fluid. She was told to take her to the hospital and she said “I’ll think about it after she did the dishes.” The next day a neighbor came to see what was going on and told Lopez to call the police and she said “No.” The neighbor did and Lopez talked of committing suicide. She would admit that she threw her daughter into a wall two days prior. The autopsy revealed broken fingers, vaginal tear, burns, welts, and a bone protruding through her skin.

Elisa story gained lots of media attention and the Newspapers, such as dateline, New York times, and time magazine just to name a few. Everyone was in some way scolding child welfare services for dropping the ball horribly. Judge Phoebe Greenbaum faced a lot of backlash and claimed she followed proper procedures in the case. Then Mayor Rudolph Giulliani would create ACS (Administration for Children Services). Devoted to child welfare, which years down the line would have a lot of similar cases like Elisa. In 1996 then Governor George Pataki signed Elisa's law which is for every agency whether private or city work together to make sure children are safe, and to also protect the child’s privacy or workers in case of any situation with abuse. This is about the need to increase accountability in the city.

This whole situation is just wrong, so many people failed this child and looked the other way. I guess it goes back to what I was asking at the beginning. I believe poverty can play a big part in children not getting enough love and support from their families, because they have to work and make sure things are taking care of. One thing I learned is no matter what, talk to a child and see if anything is going on. Any little sign of anything you confront the situation, you don’t want to wait until it too late to do something about it. Hurting one of most God creatures is absolutely disgusting, and there should be no coming back from that. I wonder if she was from a family with money would child service had taken her case way more serious? The answer most likely is yes. Money talks in this country and the sad part is, people don’t take action until its always too late. One child is too many to lose to child abuse.

 • Daily News

[qbrooklyn1056]

Reinaldo Arenas Understanding !

Reinaldo Arenas “Before Night Falls” is a really great memoir and speaks on a lot of touchy subjects, that a lot of people are going through today. The discussion of AIDS, homosexuality, and feeling abandoned is something that many people are still going through and some don’t know what to do about it. Feels like the world is over and most just give up once they hear a

 

diagnosis.  You see he said nobody paid attention to him or even looked at him as sexy. This was all probably in his mind, since as humans sometimes we tend to over exaggerate things. A person can be in their own heads so much, that the reality becomes distorted.  You can be alive but not living, which just means you are here on earth but not living your life to its best potential. To me living the way you want, is making sure you work hard to get to the place that you want, so you can live your best life. If you’re not living the life you want to live. You as a person have to change that.

I do see that mothers getting rid of fetuses /new born babies has always been a big issue all around the world for a very long time. I remember hearing and I still hear about newborn babies being put in the garbage, or in the toilet drain, and now even in purses. This is very

 

disturbing knowing that we’re in the year 2021 and a lot of women are still, just trying to get rid of the baby, thinking no one will know (even though DNA will tell whose baby it is anyway), but trust the truth will come out and to the world you’ll be known as a murder. I would like to know if it normal for fetuses just to be dumped by the trees in other countries?

This story is sometimes feeling cold, but feeling how Mr. Arenas felt some days made the reader feel warm on the inside. He knows how to capture the moment through reading and you feel like you are sitting there with him going back and forth to all these places with him, trying to get him help. From NYC to Miami, the reader gets to experience the passion and how tough this man was to be traveling while feeling really, really sick. There are times after reading this you feel angry sad and want to hurt the people who made Mr. Arenas an outcast, or told him he wasn’t good enough. Not knowing he had a beautiful gift of telling the truth through writing.  We get to see him in a lot of different stages of his illness, whether its him feeling really great one day or feeling pretty weak the next day. The reader gets to understand so what the

 complications of AIDS.  A disease that most still fear and many still don’t understand in this day and age. I see himself a fighter, not giving up on what he believed in until his last breath. He’s a champion in my eyes, because where still reading and wring about Mr. Arenas. This story is really the autobiography of Mr. Arenas life, that goes through different stages of love, laughter, and pain in his life. His life is literally on the line because he fighting a death demon, he’s has a disease and also suicide was calling him as well. Which if you haven’t experienced the feeling of wanting to commit suicide. Do you think it’s your place to tell a person that they are gay?

Having someone like Castro who didn’t seem do liberal, run a place could be devastating to a lot of guys. Castro did state “he is to blame for the prosecution of homosexuals after the Cuban revolution in 1959. Which is surprising because most people won’t even take accountability for something like this. A lot of the gay community have been killed for being themselves over all these years, due to all these leaders who didn’t understand them. People like Mr. Arenas and Cesar Chavez spoke up for many people who wouldn’t/couldn’t speak up for themselves. They were a part of the reason gay people have formed LGBQT and LGBQT rights. The LGBQT community are telling their stories and standing up for what’s right. Cuba has now joined in on the rights for the LGBQT. There are still a lot of problems around the LGBQT community, especially with the transgender rights, but the LGBQT community has come a very long way.

[qbrooklyn1056]

Change is good isn't it?

When speaking about change, Downtown Brooklyn is the definition of change. Like I said in my last post I'm from Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Greene projects to be exact. This project wasn't always the safest place to live, but everybody who lived there became a family or was actual family. This area during the great migration, was a spot where working class African Americans Migrated to, and houses the first colored school.

Fast forward to the 80/90s, where it was dominantly black and Latinos, you saw a neighborhood that still had a lot of love, but just was hit hard after the crack epidemic, broken families, and sneaky police officers. Their was a lot of poverty around me, but my family had worked and went to school, like so many others at the time that they wanted to fix up the community. They were shot down by law officials who told them it wouldn't matter anyway, minorities where the problem and until you can fix that, the things around you will stay the same. It was started to become clear they didn't care about us. It seemed as minorities were dying at a fast rate.

Let's just say these places was saw as war zones and the people who lived there as animals. Who didn’t deserve a second chance or even a first chance, depending on who you asked. Let's move forward , after all the death of minorities and all the people losing their houses or apartments. The city came up with a plan to revamp Myrtle Ave and this is where the gentrification began.

All these new developers, had one agenda get rid of all things that people think are landmarks and create a damn sun blocker, or ocean blocker. You might of brought a high rise with a pretty view, but now you pay all that money to look at your neighbors wall, because they can't stop building in NYC . All these new buildings has one of the requirements, which is that a person makes 80,000 a year. In reality most New Yorkers make closer to 50,000 (if that) a year. The city says some are suppose to be affordable housing, but that's a lie, because like I said most people don't make enough. This is a way to push out minorities and move in all these tech savvy people, who took over there city. Is seems that all it took was killing, tricking, and sneaking to get this city where it at now. I don't care how fancy they make it, you live in an apartment thats may be 3,000 a month but outsid your house are drug addicts, homeless people, and predators. It seems like the very thing NYC tried to get rid of popped up and bite them right back in the ass.

I will stop here because this is a topics that can go very deep. It does seems minorities are the ones who always get the short end of the stick, after they helped build or had a hand in making this city . In what some would call great today.

[qbrooklyn1056]

Why change what's already there!

I lived in Bed Stuy/Bushwick for over 16 years now, off of thr Kosciusko stop on the J train line. I recently moved on the same st, but about two blocks from my old place. I'm originally from Fort Greene projects in Brooklyn, moved this way some years ago. I like it over here because, for many years it's just been Black /Latinos people living side by side and that always brought so much culture to this area. From all the black owned bars and Spanish restaurants that's around, gave the place a lot of flavor. Soul 2 soul was a great place but once gentrification came into play it was closed for a punk rock bar or what ever it is.

One place that still great and all they did was fix the place up is El Monumento Restaurant Bar & Lounge. Great food, Culture and people. Plus since I learned to speak Spanish in college. The workers always help me better my Spanish by speaking to me in only Spanish.

Gentrification has brought a lot of unwanted guest, and pushed out a lot of people who called this place home. From Bed Stuy to Bushwick so many people, either went to New Jersey, upstate, Florida, or down south. Pushing locals out for this new high tech world we live in now. I'm up for change but what happens to all the flavor and culture that was once here. I can say another place I like is Mojitos, downtown Brooklyn in Fort Greene a lot of cuban cuisine and they have great happy hour drinks. This place has a lot of culture, pretty colors and the best music and people you can find.

The next place I love is not a Spanish restaurant but Italian, it's called a Roberta's in Williamsburg Brooklyn. You grt to pick how you want your pizza and the crust and pizza is very healthy and easy to burn off. They also have healthy drinks, popular one is their bloody mary. You must try their stick buns they go fast but ate really great, you have to buy soem to take home (Trust you'll want to). This place has a lot of culture and art work inside the building or in the yard where you can eat. The bathroom is like a scene of old new York with all the writing on the walls and graffiti. (Which I find as art), but the outside of the restaurant has a long wall with beautiful art pieces. Filled with Latin culture and colors.

The problem is there are talks of developers trying to put up a high raise in its place, which would be terrible, because it's nothing but high raiser everywhere that are blocking views that people pay a lot of money to see the skyline, but are now block by more buildings. It's like there trying to take everything that is apart of the New York culture and turn it into more into an industrial type of place. We need the little culture we have left in this part of Brooklyn, which is quickly turning into the new Manhattan.