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January 15, 2010
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR, CELEBRATION AT CITY HALL
By Profesor Martin Danenberg
"El Quijote del GED"
At a certain point in this article, you are going to be asked to read something over. Why? Because it is that important.
There were prayers (including a lot of gospel music) and protests at City Hall during the celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration. The prayers were for everyone and for everyone in Haiti. There were calls for action. City council members of different races and others spoke about the neglect of Haiti for two hundred years and decades. The speakers cited gaps in justice, labor rights, economic benefits, education, and perhaps most of all, the gap between people who really care and those who just show up for an event and do nothing. Very few people know that after being published in various Spanish newspapers, I had an important GED article about the French GED in the Haitian Times. Very few people know that I was brought into the Konbit Neg Lakay in Spring Valley to bring French GED practice test programming and to make changes in the BOCES GED class there. Graduates soon began to rain out of that program, where there were none before. Very few know that before I became known in New York City and in most of New York state, I was making trips to Dorchester and Boston's City Hall to promote the education of Haitians, invited by my friend Dr. Eno Mondesir. Very few people know that I have directed Haitians to my friend Herman Mendoza who has a "One Voice" Campaign to unite Haitians and Dominicans in ending the violence that afflicts those people in the Dominican Republic. Very few people know my work Yele Haiti, which I wrote after meeting with Wyclef and his family. Councilman Robert Jackson told people they can send cash donations through their cell phones to help in the relief effort. The collection of water and other medications will find its way to Haiti, but much of it will be stockpiled in New York City for a long, long time. It may take a lot of time to distribute all of it, but Robert Jackson told the audience that the solution is make cash donations to reliable organizations. Very few people know that I have been on Radio Nouveauté. Solutions that were once easier have been made incredibly more difficult by the destruction caused by the earthquake. Education is an important solution, but life matters more and that is why I attended the meeting with William Bell, the father of Sean Bell; however, I cannot drop my GED campaign. Thank you for reading this.
The focus on Dr. King was to review all of the key components of his own civil rights' campaign. These components included the rights of African-Americans and other minorities, battling for the poor, working alongside labor movements, and speaking about the war that was going on (Vietnam). These monumental objectives have not been realized yet, but there have been great improvements. Speakers made this last point well, but...but...but as I sat there watching and listening, I was thinking again and again and again that people speaking out have to bring more solutions to the forefront. Moses, you will recall, had a big solution and the forty year waiting period, I can assure, has come to an end. Yes this period of our lives must be devoted to Education and Economic Empowerment. Haiti needs it. Will Haiti achieve it? I do not know. I feel New Yorkers can achieve it and we can spread this word to New Orleans and to former residents of New Orleans. We can spread this word to victims all over our nation and to people victimized by their own antisocial behavior. We can do things that the Rush Limbaughs and Pat Robertsons never thought could take place. We will silence them though. This battle is not about people involved in voodoo or people sucking other people's money and growing the role of government. It is about our commitment to each American and citizen of the world who want to live in peace and harmony with his neighbor. It is about the "Good Samaritan" and "Love Thy Neighbor As Thy Love Thyself."
It was great to see Felipe Luciano at City Hall. We had never met before and I have a wonderful exchange of ideas with Felipe. He knows that things could have been different back when he was with the Young Lords, just as they can be different today. He must recall how the men in blue were called "fascists" back then. I saw people that I grew up in a New York City Housing Project on drugs and I found out about the deaths from overdoses and the incarceration of others. The solution was really there at that time for us to see, but nobody came forth to make a huge difference. Education was the key, but people were just being advised to look for work. Things progressed until today and now we know that education was the key. My Jewish grandmother from Austria-Hungary often reminded me that I could be a butcher (just as my grandfather was) and make good money, but my destiny was different. We grew up in a different world without cell phones, texting, the internet, picture taking phones, and other things and this was even before the "boom boxes" that are extinct. Man! We grew up with skelly and a broomstick for sports and other activities. Felipe, you and I know that the world was not really better in those days and then when the drug epidemic hit things did get much worse. The Lower East Side exploded with many more problems, but I will tell you, now, what I know and I wish I had known it back then. Yes by late 1967, I was teaching right alongside "Alphabet City" and people were not getting their diplomas and not attaining the education that people say is needed today. If we had invested more in making sure that every member of every family had a diploma and not just relying on protecting people during those difficult times, things would have been different. Read the sentence over! Even today, police anti-drug task forces are springing up in communities that badly need education and diplomas. You cannot eat a diploma, but you can compete much better to get the food you need to make your life better with it. Reverends, councilmen and councilwomen, community activists, and other leaders, please wake up. There are great solutions to talk about!
AND DON'T DARE TALK ABOUT GED WITH PEOPLE WHO KNOW LESS THAT I KNOW. THE FORTY YEARS ARE OVER FOR GED FAILURE IN THIS COUNTRY AND WORK ME TO TOWARD HELPING PEOPLE IN YOUR ELECTORAL DISTRICTS AND COMMUNITIES. A SPECIAL THANKS GOES TO COUNCILMAN ROBERT JACKSON FOR INTRODUCING ME TO PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. ANOTHER SPECIAL THANK YOU GOES OUT TO YDANIS RODRIGUEZ. WE WILL CHANGE WASHINGTON HEIGHTS TOGETHER. AND THANK YOU ALL FOR READING THIS LONG ARTICLE.
MARTIN N. DANENBERG
7 BLAZER DRIVE
ISLANDIA, NEW YORK 11749
631-348-1341
GEDHOTLINE@AOL.COM
www.ahorre.com
www.ahorre.com/ged
www.geocities.com/gedhotline
www.aspira.org
Profesor Martin Danenberg January 15, 2010 10:35 AM