State Office Building 2nd Floor Art Gallery
(163 West 125th Street, New York, NY 10027)

Friday, May 30, 2008

6:00 PM -7:30 PM SHARP!

IN WAKE OF THE RECENT SHOOTINGS AND RISING CONCERNS FROM THE COMMUNITY

ELECTED OFFICIALS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS ARE CALLING FOR SOLUTIONS

TO
***ADDRESS GUN VIOLENCE IN OUR COMMUNITY***

STATE SENATORS BILL PERKINS, ERIC SCHNEIDERMAN, JOSE SERRANO
CONGRESSMAN CHARLES B. RANGEL, GOVERNOR PATERSON’S OFFICE
BOROUGH PRESIDENT SCOTT STRINGER, PUBLIC ADVOCATE OFFICE
ASSEMBLYMEMBERS KEITH LT. WRIGHT, DENNY FARRELL,
ADAM CLAYTON POWELL, DANNY O’DONNELL
COUNCILMEMBERS INEZ E. DICKENS, ROBERT JACKSON,
MELISSA MARK-VIVERITO, MIGUEL MARTINEZ
CHIEF RAYMOND DIAZ, COMMANDER, NYPD MANHATTAN NORTH
25TH PRECINCT, 28TH PRECINCT, 32ND PRECINCT, PSA 6, HARLEM MOTHERS S.A.V.E.S
STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL OFFICE, MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY OFFICE
HARLEM HOSPITAL-DR. JOHN PALMER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

LIST IN FORMATION

PLEASE RSVP @ SENATOR BILL PERKINS OFFICE 212-222-7315

This is an extremely worthwhile organization and your can contribute time, money or good wishes…whatever youre comfortable with! Please give them a look as they are producing real results that speak directly to the issues discussed here today.

MGP is not a safe place for a grown man to be after dark, let alone a 13 year old boy, or an 18 year old boy. The parents should have told their kids that.

Sadly, like a lot of things that go on in the city that the majority don’t approve of, there will always be illegal firearms.

It is, however, sad that a 15 year old boy thought that using a gun to maim people was an appropriate way to solve an argument.

I am sick of this too. Hip-hop does play a part, but who’s financing it. Conglomerates. And violence in Harlem precedes hip-hop. Parents are responsible, we are all responsible for what we do. My parents did the best they could. I turned out well but my brothers did not.

And about the Spanish, Albanians and Polish, read your history and your current events. Something called Kosovo? Darfur? Ah, the Mafia. The Russian Mob in Brooklyn. There are a lot of guns there too, right? New York at the turn of the century. Very brutal. Aid organizations are predicting food riots because of high prices. This stuff is going on all over the world. But again somebody tries to do something to stop it. Obviously the people themselves could not.

You live here too my friend, so you are responsible. Too bad. Man up.

People scream “but we are poor!” BS! I know tons more poor people – Chinese, Albanians, Polish, Spanish youths and they are not shooting each other up? Are they? No! It is only in this Culture that guns and violence are a problem.

Come to grips with it. If friggin Al Sharpton wanted to voice his anger and put his energy somewhere – then stop blocking traffic and start raising your children right and taking responsibility!

Totally Pathetic!

However jokes and what I do or did does not change anything. Face up to it.

Harlem will never be what you want it to be unless people do something
about the condition of the “other people” living there.

If your home was on fire you would want me to help, if someone attacked
you in the street you would want my help. If there was a water main
break on your street you would want my help and sympathy. Would you be a victim? That’s part of being a community.

Supposed I just turned my head and said “stop being a victim and do something”.
Something to think about. And forget the jokes they just mask your selfishness and help you avoid the issue.

You may wish that I eat my fried chicken and just shut up. No. And you can attack all you want. It just proves my point.

So down the years I…
At age 14 I worked as a tutor to younger kids in schools. Taught music at the PAL at 18. I worked in substance abuse programs, donated musical instruments to schools, volunteered at Hale House holding and ministering to crack babies, had my television production firm donate computers to schools…
I can go on. What have you done? What do you plan to do? Nothing.

Because you wish that I would not bring anything up doesn’t mean that your responsibility ends. If you live in Harlem or Riverdale you have a commitment to your community.

Stop putting your heads in a hole and look around you.

And I’m not a victim. I probably make more money than you do. Not all blacks are poor. I work as a chief financial officer and I was born and raised on the streets of Harlem. So I know you better than you think I do.

Deal with it. You are responsible to your community. If this were Riverdale it would not even be an issue.