Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:37:39 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Jamal Watson :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Jamal+Watson istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/toussaints-connection-to-mlk-jr/31627/ Wed, 26 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST Most black folks I know are dues paying union members. They would have it no other way. Even if we buy the hype that the American workplace has gotten better for the black man and woman, too many of us are reminded of all those years our ancestors toiled in the soil without receiving a penny for their labor. By the way, can somebody tell me where's the 40 acres and a mule that they've been promising us? Although some cringe at attempts to compare the president of the Transport Workers Union... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/immigration-debate-racialization/30838/ Wed, 12 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST If the Democrats don't do something about illegal immigration pretty soon, Tyrone Johnson says he will do something that he has never done before: vote Republican in the upcoming election. Mr. Johnson, who is black, has been a loyal Democrat for the past three decades. He has marched against racial profiling and has rallied for affordable housing, particularly in Harlem, where he has always lived. But when it comes to the immigration issue, he, like many other African Americans, has found some... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/at-long-last-gaines-to-get-due-with-honorary/29996/ Wed, 29 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST COLUMBIA, Mo. - When I heard rumors that the University of Missouri's law school was making preparations to award Lloyd Gaines an honorary degree, I had to make the trek midway across the country just to make sure no one was trying to pull a fast one on me. It is indeed true, as I learned firsthand this week. If everything goes as planned, Gaines, an African American who tried to integrate the University of Missouri's all-white law school in 1936 - will finally get his due. In case you had... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/7-year-old-is-not-to-blame/29148/ Wed, 15 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST If you read the newspapers every day, you might just become convinced, as I am, that the majority of our society has gone mad and lost its mind. How could you reasonably come to any other conclusion when you consider the actions taken last week by school officials in the Westchester town of Peekskill? School administrators there sent a recorded phone message to hundreds of parents whose children attend the Peekskill High School and Middle School. They said they wanted to apologize and publicly... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/equality-over-integration/28431/ Thu, 2 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST Every so often, some scholar will come up with the dumb idea that they are helping black children if they send them far away from their neighborhoods and support systems. They'll argue to forcefully take "talented" black children from underachieving schools and ship them off to some isolated environment where no other black person can be found for miles. It is no coincidence that New York City's most underachieving schools are located in African-American neighborhoods that are populated by... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/future-of-harlem-marriott-appears-to-be-in/27634/ Wed, 15 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST On a frigid day, John Ferguson is peeping through the plywood erected on 125th Street to shield the bare parking lot adjacent to the New York College of Podiatric Medicine from public view. Despite the sign overhead proclaiming the rebirth of the Harlem Renaissance with the forthcoming construction of a new Marriott Hotel, Mr. Ferguson remains suspicious. "They've been talking about building this hotel for years," said Mr. Ferguson, 62, who thought several months ago that the mammoth skyscraper... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/kings-widow-a-legacy-of-her-own/26829/ Wed, 1 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST Back in 1968, Coretta Scott King stood as a symbol of strength for black America, helping African Americans cope with the loss of their leader. Much the same way Jacqueline Kennedy provided comfort to a mourning nation after President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Coretta Scott King's public presence in the days following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. offered solace to African Americans during a turbulent decade marked by bombings, lynchings, and mob violence. When cities... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/behind-spitzers-choice-of-paterson/26527/ Thu, 26 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST Ask black New Yorkers what they think about Eliot Spitzer and most will find a way to somehow work into the conversation the name of Alton Maddox. In 1990, Mr. Maddox, a well-known civil rights attorney, was suspended from practicing law in New York while representing the Reverend Al Sharpton on a 67-count indictment. Mr. Maddox had refused to disclose files to the court involving the infamous Tawana Brawley case three years earlier. Back then, the 15-year-old Mid-Hudson Valley girl claimed she... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/leading-way-along-trail-king-blazed/25668/ Wed, 11 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST Every year at about this time, some historian drives me absolutely crazy with his or her attempt to engage in acts of revisionism aimed at recreating the life of Martin Luther King Jr. Conservatives have been the worst. They have grossly misappropriated King's words in an attempt to suggest that, had he lived, the civil rights leader would have been an outspoken critic of affirmative action and other social programs. They focus solely on his "I Have a Dream" speech, ignoring his outspoken... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/searching-for-another-jesse-jackson/25290/ Wed, 4 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST There was a sense of excitement at my parents' home back in 1984. For the first time in history, my family, like most other black folks we knew, truly believed that a black man had a good chance of becoming the president of the United States. My father hit the streets, encouraging everyone he knew to cast a vote for the Reverend Jesse Jackson. As a child, I passed out posters and Jesse Jackson buttons and proudly watched as the Baptist preacher took to the stage of the Democratic National... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/candidate-to-watch/25032/ Wed, 28 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST Now that Jeanine Pirro's bid to challenge Senator Clinton has been torpedoed by a group of men in Albany, who cited poor polling numbers as their reason for encouraging the Westchester County district attorney to sit out the race, Mrs. Pirro - with their blessing - has turned her attention to the race for state attorney general, a contest that most polls suggest she will likely lose as well. The problem with recent polls surrounding the attorney general's race is that they have pitted Mrs... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/transit-battle-is-tied-to-civil-rights/24772/ Wed, 21 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST On a crowded part of the Brooklyn Bridge, a wife and husband with their two children in tow, were heard singing, "We Shall Overcome," as they marched with signs urging the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to make further concessions at the negotiating table. In Harlem, a group of activists stood at one of the 125th Street subway stop to show solidarity with the striking workers who shut down the country's busiest transportation system in the wee hours of the morning, forcing millions to... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/stay-in-the-race-pirro/24408/ Wed, 14 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST I can't help but feel sorry for the Westchester County district attorney, Jeanine Pirro. How can you not? The good ole boys in Albany recently got together behind closed doors yet again to decide Mrs. Pirro's fate. By the luck of the draw, these Republican Party leaders came to the conclusion that Mrs. Pirro wasn't the right candidate to square off against Senator Clinton. When private discussions urging Mrs. Pirro not to run didn't work, these hawkish male politicos took their case to the... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/call-to-halt-killings/24076/ Wed, 7 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST If one is to believe in the accuracy of polls, I am at odds with most black folks in this country when it comes to support for the death penalty. The latest numbers indicate that African Americans, as a group, overwhelmingly favor the death penalty as a form of deterrence against brutal crimes. I have long been opposed to the barbaric practice, partly out of religious convictions but mostly due to a commitment to social justice. Each year, new DNA evidence continues to cast doubts on the... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/mormonism-takes-hold-in-harlem/23699/ Wed, 30 Nov 2005 00:00:00 EST Beulah Philson has long been a devout Baptist. At a young age, she made a promise to her parents that she would never abandon her religious roots. But on a recent Sunday morning, Ms. Philson, 56, made the trek across town to fellowship at Harlem's newly built five-story Mormon Temple on the corner of 128th Street and Lenox Avenue. After years of trying one church service after another, Ms. Philson is taking a chance on something brand new. "The black Baptist church just isn't doing anything for... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/gentrification-is-more-than-black-white/23089/ Wed, 16 Nov 2005 00:00:00 EST Last weekend, a friend of mine was accosted on 125th Street in Harlem. In broad daylight, about five black men wearing Black Panther-like uniforms surrounded him and demanded to know why he - a white man - was strolling through what can arguably be called America's most famous black neighborhood. "Get out of here," they screamed at him. "You are taking over this entire neighborhood with your Starbucks," one of the angry men later argued. My friend, who has lived in Harlem for the past three... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/young-plunge-into-politics/22727/ Wed, 9 Nov 2005 00:00:00 EST Back in 1999, I seriously contemplated leaving journalism, putting down my pen and hitting the campaign trail to work for presidential candidate Bill Bradley. For years, I had watched Mr. Bradley from afar and admired his political sensibilities. His straight talk on race relations was a refreshing contrast to all too often heard rhetoric that pitted the races against each other. I believed in Mr. Bradley's campaign. I thought then - and I certainly believe now - that he would have been an... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/honoring-parkss-legacy/22417/ Wed, 2 Nov 2005 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - After spending days thinking about the best way I could honor the legacy of Rosa Parks, I've decided to get a lifetime membership to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. I've been urging everyone else I know to do the same. I got the idea just the other day from Karen Hunter, the co-host of the "Morning Show" on WWRL 1600 radio. Ms. Hunter's mother, a Southerner who came of age during the reign of segregation, wisely decided that a lifelong membership in... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/passing-of-a-heroic-generation/22086/ Wed, 26 Oct 2005 00:00:00 EST Two weeks ago, I told one of my reporters that a story slated to run on the front page of the Amsterdam News would remain there unless news flashed that Rosa Parks had died. As it happened, she died earlier this week after years of fighting for social justice causes. I had been spending a lot of time thinking about Parks and was wondering what would come of the 92-year-old matriarch of the civil rights movement. As a student of the civil rights movement, I am fascinated by this period in... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/how-white-america-sees-blacks/21728/ Wed, 19 Oct 2005 00:00:00 EST For the past decade, I've held a gripe against ABC newsman Ted Koppel. As a boy who consumed the news regularly, I often stayed up past my bedtime to watch "Nightline." It was the best news show on television. My discomfort with Mr. Koppel began in 1995. That year, I appeared on his show after the Million Man March. I was there to discuss the impact of the march that had brought a sea of black men to the nation's capital to atone and commit themselves to a new beginning. On that "Nightline"... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/need-to-help-s-africa/21395/ Wed, 12 Oct 2005 00:00:00 EST JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Unlike the American civil rights movement, which I experienced only second-hand - mainly through textbooks, archival footage, and personal testimonies - I've always felt closely aligned with the freedom struggles of the 1980s that was solidly aimed at dismantling apartheid in South Africa. As a child, I watched the acts of mob violence inflicted against black South Africans broadcast to my television screen and I heard sophisticated black folks talk about the need... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/dont-duck-the-debate-mr-mayor/20999/ Wed, 5 Oct 2005 00:00:00 EST Maybe it's just me, but sometimes I think political leaders like to suffer. Just when everything seems to be going well for a campaign, a candidate inevitably makes some dumb comment or misstep that sends the candidacy into a slippery downward spiral. For Mayor Bloomberg, that descent began last week when he announced that he was simply going to skip the first official debate between his rivals at the famous Apollo Theater, located in what could arguably be considered the nation's black mecca... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/press-on-blacks-and-whites/20649/ Wed, 28 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST As a child, it was hard to miss the many newspapers and magazines that cluttered our West Philadelphia row home. There was the usual suspects sprawled out across the dining room table: the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Time magazine. But my parents also purchased and read the Philadelphia Tribune, the New York Amsterdam News, and Jet and Ebony - black newspapers and magazines that almost everyone else we knew also seemed to consume. When it came down to the reporting of news... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/bloombergs-surprising-supporters/19995/ Wed, 14 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST Lucille Williams was looking for every reason not to vote yesterday. "When I decided that there would be no rain, I convinced myself that I had to come out and vote," Ms. Williams, who cast her ballot at the Oberia Dempsey Center in Harlem, said. "To tell you the truth, I'm not excited about any of the Democratic candidates. No one has been spectacular in this year's race." On this day, Ms. Williams - a devoted Democrat who has never crossed party lines, ended up voting for the president of... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/katrina-shows-racial-divide-in-america/19696/ Wed, 7 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST A friend in France called me the other day outraged by the portrayal of black Americans as savages on his television. I could only offer this explanation. In my experience, many people outside America believe that there are no longer any significant economic and social disparities between black Americans and white Americans, mostly because they are unaware of racial statistics and consume narrow samples of black culture typified by "The Cosby Show," Oprah Winfrey, professional sports, actors... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/some-advice-for-pataki-on-slavery/19430/ Wed, 31 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST Last week, I wrote that I supported the creation of the Amistad Commission, a 19-member group, to be chosen by Governor Pataki, that would examine whether New York schoolchildren learn enough about slavery. The commission, which has become something of a lightning rod in certain quarters across the state, is a no-brainer for me and, quite frankly, I just don't understand what the fuss is all about. Put simply, Americans in general - not to mention school-age children - do not know enough about... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/why-panel-on-slavery-is-necessary/19066/ Wed, 24 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST I've been racking my brain for days now trying to understand why anybody would be opposed to the newly formed panel that will examine whether students learn enough about slavery in the state's public schools. The Amistad Commission, a 19-member group to be chosen by Governor Pataki, will focus on how effectively instructors cover the slave trade and other black experiences. At the end of the commission's fact-finding search, the unpaid panel members could recommend improved textbooks... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/law-applies-to-mayor-too/18740/ Wed, 17 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST It's not unusual during a political season for campaigns to tear down rivals' campaign posters. The practice almost comes with the territory of seeking public office. Aside from public debates, poster hanging has long been the most inexpensive way for a candidate to get exposure. In a crowded race, a candidate would like to see as few as possible of his rivals' posters. The other night, while pulling out of the parking lot at work, I spotted on a pole a freshly hung poster of a candidate... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/reauthorize-65-voting-act-for-our-future/18373/ Wed, 10 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST ATLANTA - Francis Taylor is old enough to remember the days when her mother was turned away from the ballot box in the segregated South and told that she could not vote because she was black. "You couldn't imagine the pain on her face," said Ms. Taylor, 71, who grew up in Ruleville, Miss., but has lived in Queens since 1962. "My mama was a good woman who was simply devastated that in this country, she could not cast a vote for someone who would determine her future." Ms. Taylor, who put away... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/sharpton-pledges-fight-against-homophobia-among/17991/ Wed, 3 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST At a gathering last week at the West Village apartment of a gay rights activist, Allen Roskoff, the Reverend Al Sharpton took to the floor and launched an initiative likely to make some of his most loyal supporters uncomfortable. Rev. Sharpton has pledged to jumpstart a grassroots movement that would address the issue of homophobia in the black community. That problem has undoubtedly contributed to the epidemic rates of HIV/AIDS cases among African-Americans, particularly black women. Rev... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/mending-ties-between-blacks-jews/17609/ Wed, 27 Jul 2005 00:00:00 EST At Congregation B'nai Jeshurun on the Upper West Side, black and Jewish teens recently stood shoulder to shoulder, pledging to rebuild the historic alliance that was once a cornerstone of progressive politics in this country. Just hours before, they had taken to foot, exploring the small black-owned shops tucked away on the side streets of Harlem before ending up at the Lower East Side's Tenement Museum to talk about the immigrant Jewish community that once lived there. A few days later, they... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/ny-should-mimic-utahs-property-bill/17254/ Wed, 20 Jul 2005 00:00:00 EST For a guy who has come up with a dumb idea or two in my lifetime, let me tip my hat to the U.S. Supreme Court over its recent ruling that gives local governments the authority to seize people's homes and businesses for private economic development. The 5-4 ruling, handed down by the court last month, is heartless and only opens the way for developers to bulldoze private residences to build shopping malls, hotel complexes, and stadiums, all in the name of generating tax revenue. The case, first... JAMAL WATSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/adl-concerns-on-march-fail-to-faze-clinton/16923/ Wed, 13 Jul 2005 00:00:00 EST President Clinton was in a jovial mood as he welcomes a reporter into his sprawling office atop an office building at 125th Street in Harlem. Scattered around the bookshelves are mementos of an astounding political life, but nothing inside is more wonderful than the view from his window, which looks down the length of Manhattan. I was eager to ask the 42nd president about the controversy over the new national gathering to be convened in October by a minister of the Nation of Islam, Louis...