Author: Rock Hackshaw

Senator Chuck Schumer loves to hold press conferences on Sundays, whereby he gets decent coverage in near all local newspapers the next day; it has been an effective media strategy.  It sure helped him get to the US Senate. The question however is this: after the press leaves are the issues raised eventually resolved? What about the follow-up? Maybe a media outlet would apply some of its resources into researching Schumer’s success rate. And there is a reason why I say this. 

I have lived in New York for the past 35 years, and it seems to me that every year or two, some politician, news outlet, university or think-tank, comes up with some study showing how blacks and Hispanics get screwed by mortgage brokers, real estate folks, insurers or banks. No kidding. And I recall Senator Schumer holding quite a few of his Sunday press conferences, to highlight this and other ancillary problems over the years. 

When I write columns like this one, they invariably lead to e-mails and phone calls where I have to defend my virginity (political), integrity and honor. Sometimes the callers are so-called friends, with special interests and/or hidden agendas; I don’t care for the shouting matches (sometimes/lol). I do these type of columns because I blog with a purpose, and also because I do believe that voters need to know the kind of things that take place behind the scenes, before they pull the levers on the voting machine. 

One Friday evening last month, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (Brooklyn’s 11th district) was spotted on Broadway (Booth Theatre) taking her mother (Una Clarke) to see Laurence Fishburne, starring in the play “Thurgood Marshall”. Fishburne was one of the stars in a movie in which I appeared, more than a decade in ago. He is quite a humorous though intense actor. That movie was entitled: “Searching for Bobby Fisher”. In it, I played myself (as a chess player); and of course near all my best scenes were left on the cutting floor/lol.

Congratulations are in order for my friend and fellow political activist Errol Louis, who has pulled down a talk show on WWRL. He hosts the 6am till 9am slot on progressive talk radio. Errol is a columnist for the New York Daily News, and also a regular contributor to CNN (especially the Lou Dobbs show). He ran for the New York city council in 1997 (35th district), and came second against incumbent Mary Pinkett (deceased). In that race he beat James Davis (deceased) who went on to win the seat next time out. There are many who still believe that Errol could have been representing that area today, while on his way to Congress.

The 56th Assembly District in Brooklyn covers Bedford Stuyvesant and a few surrounding nooks and crannies. It has been on political lockdown by Al Vann, Annette Robinson and their cronies for over thirty years now. That’s all I will say about that (for now). Usually at this time of the year -when petitions are filed- you would find Richard Taylor’s perennial challenge to the Rip Van Winkle dynasty in the 56thAd. This year it is different: Richard Taylor miraculously didn’t file petitions; it’s the first time in about a quarter century. But an attorney named Cinceria Edwards did file- in order to challenge the status quo; and I wish this story ended right here.

Since last week, I have been working on a column for a developing story, about an epic 33 year old court battle between tenants of 320 Sterling Street, Brooklyn, and their former landlords. This legal quagmire also includes the NYC Housing Preservation Department (HPD). This week however, was the deadline for submitting petitions for candidates running for public and party offices/positions, and given that I have been advising a few clients (one of the many hats I wear is that of political consultant), my time for finishing up on that column just flew by. I will get to it real soon, since it is a very painful story about power-abuse.  

Most of you know that I was born on the Caribbean island called Trinidad; as such, the issue of immigration is near and dear to me. Most of you also know that my core belief is that most individuals born in the USA are xenophobic, and that’s why the issue is so volatile. I don’t make this claim lightly. I have been dealing with this issue for over thirty years. With all this as a backdrop, let me say that it was refreshing to hear Brooklyn congressman Ed Towns (10th) call for a national commission to deal with the issue of immigration. Towns wants to empower a commission to thoroughly study the issue and to come up with recommendations for resolving it, once and for all. 

Today in the New York Post newspaper, columnist Fred Dicker sure lived up to his last name, since someone is surely going to get screwed by his front-page article. He reported that in private conversations, N.Y. Governor David Paterson said that, “Mayor Michael Bloomberg (NYC) is a nasty, tantrum-prone liar”. Dicker further states that Paterson claimed, “It is obvious that Bloomberg has little use for the kind of people who comes from Queens and Staten Island”. He further says of Bloomberg, that “you can’t trust him”. Look, I am not going to rehash the history of this dust-up; you can do your own research by going through the last four weeks of newspapers in this naked city. Also, I am not going to repeat all that Dicker claimed to have been said by our Cinderella governor (including the Spitzer comparison); go buy the paper yourself. I am however, going to accept (for now) that all of Dicker’s statements are true; at least until they are refuted or disclaimed by the governor.

Never let it be said that Brooklyn’s politics is boring; it is not. Maybe years from now, when the black areas of Brooklyn become as sterile as the white and Hispanic areas are now (somewhat) -where there are hardly ever primaries anymore- we will all look back and wonder where the gumption came from; since it seems that we could always find a primary challenger to some black incumbent, on the other side of the tracks. This year is no exception. Maybe the respect for the county machine is dependent on where you live in Brooklyn; because black insurgents seem to operate on the Winston Churchill principle; which is in essence: that success comes by going from one failure to another, without losing enthusiasm.