The Bronx has always been a home of immigrants looking to start their journey in our country and today we bring you three stories from around the web.
New York Regional Chief of the Ashanti From Ghana Is Installed
Dave Sanders for the New York Times
Our borough is home to the largest population of the African diaspora and Ghanaians make up the lion’s share of this diverse group which is why last month a chief was installed to serve the Ghanaian community. Nana Acheampong-Tieku was officially raised as chief in a colorful and elaborate ceremony bringing a bit of Africa to the Bronx.
Read all about it and catch some great photos of the event: New York Times
Emerald Isle Immigration CENTER (EIIC) Threatened By Budget Cuts
From the series, New York's Irish 1994-2008..Beer delivery men in Woodlawn, an Irish enclave in the Bronx in 2001.
A little known fact is that the Bronx is home to one of the largest Irish communities in New York City tucked away in the northwestern neighborhoods of Norwood and Woodlawn. The EIIC is currently between a rock and a hard place as it faces cuts in funding while demand for its services have increased. A fundraiser is scheduled tomorrow and another one on Sunday, June 10th to raise necessary funds to keep their programs running. Irish Central has more information on this story as well as details on the fundraisers.
Honduran Soccer League Unable To Use New Soccer Field They Fought For
Photo Credit: DNAinfo/Patrick Wall
Now this bit of news is a tad on the annoying side. Back in the 1990s, the Honduran community of the Bronx (which is more than double the size of any other borough) formed a soccer league to keep the kids off the street and active in the sport of their homeland.
The league eventually grew much larger and within time grew to 25 teams of not just Hondurans but members of the African and Central American communities.
Together they fought and lobbied the Parks Department to get the city to build a soccer field at Crotona Park. Finally, the field has been built but the soccer league which was the reason the field was built in the first place, are not allowed to play there.
Find out why and other details at DNAinfo.
Tonight, Monday, June 4th at 9pm, BronxTalk’s host, Gary Axelbank will be joined by New York City’s Comptroller John Liu to discuss a variety of items and issues close to Bronxites’ hearts and concern – particularly the FreshDirect sweetheart deal which he has essentially called fiscally irresponsible and placed the sole dissenting vote against it. Another sensitive topic on the list to be discussed is the Croton Filtration Plant in Van Cortlandt Park.
The show is LIVE and calls will be taken so make sure to call in early to get your voice heard!
BronxTalk is on live at 9pm on channels 67 (Cablevision) and 33 (FIOS).
For more information on what South Bronx residents are doing to organize against the FreshDirect deal, visit:
Here’s are a few of the stories on the Bronx radar map that we thought would interest you.
First on our morning travels we stumbled upon an interesting piece on a young Bronxite in Hunts Point who has caught the eyes of a photographer and journalist as he “parkours” throughout the neighborhood with his buddies. Parkour is best described as running combined with acrobatics with a twist of ballet as you leap, somersault or bounce your way through obstacles. The non-competitive sport has its roots in 1920s France and Jose The Amazing is a natural at it.
Next on our travels we came across another piece in the Huffington Post on the Bronx, this time on No Longer Empty: This Side of Paradise at the Andrew Freedman Home on the Grand Concourse. The exhibition is still very well alive in the media since its opening night almost 2 months ago. The writer seeks to examine the unlikely connection between pop-up exhibition-making and community building.
Finally we end today’s journey with Crain’s New York report on the Crotona Park East community’s resurgence from its darkest days – a neighborhood once called by president Jimmy Carter as the “worst” neighborhood in the country. In the past 4 years, commercial vacancy rates have dropped a whopping 8% from 24% in 2008 to a current rate of 16%. This is what community building and perseverance looks like.
Throughout the years Orchard Beach has gone through some great renovations like new playgrounds, handball courts and the likes. Now our tastebuds are going to get a major treat: food options are about to get a major face lift.
The owners of Havana Café on East Tremont in Schuylerville haber secured a contract to manage the three stands at Orchard for 8 years. Each stand will be dedicated to specific cuisines that our borough offers and will feature Italian, Cuban and LatinAmerican, and seafood.
An ad announces that anyone over the age of 13 can go to a shooting range for practice - no license required. The glass fortress of the Bronx County Hall of Justice looms in the background where many of our youth end up in a never ending cycle.
As I headed home walking along 161st street I noticed the most disturbing ad plastered on the side of defunct payphone. “SHOOTING RANGE 13 YEARS AND UP: NO LICENSE REQUIRED” it blared.
As if our youth needs any more seduction into the world of guns and the violence that they lead to in our neighborhoods. Bronxites are no strangers to gun violence. We know the statistics very well and although in the recent decades we’ve seen an exponential decrease in gun deaths, we can still do alot more to continue its decline.
Look, I’m not against limiting our constitutional rights, including the right to bear arms, but I am all for keeping our streets clean of illegal firearms. Advertisements such as this one in a community that still has the some of the highest rates of gun violence is an insult to every resident of our borough and even more so to the memory of the victims of gun violence and their families.
What do you think about such ads in our communities?
This not to be missed event tomorrow at Casita Maria will sure be yet another cultural milestone for the Bronx. The works of famed and award winning photographer, Ricky Flores – one of the Seis del Sur, will be on display in his largest exhibit to date with over 150 photographs.
Flores is a born and bred Bronxite who documented the devastation that the Bronx endured during the 80s and a true inspiration which we can be proud of so don’t forget to come out and join the festivities!
Thursday, April 26th
7pm-9pm
Casita Maria
928 Simpson Street
Bronx, NY
Subway: 2 and 5 trains to Simpson St
6 train to Hunts Point
What happens when you put a spoken word artist raised in the Bronx together with one of the largest latino based social media companies around?
You’ll just have to check out the video to find out.
This past weekend, the latino social media giant , Being Latino got together with Advocate of Wordz to film a project to celebrate National Poetry Month. The result is a short, quirky – yet powerful piece that shows one of Wordz’ works, Nuyorican, in a completely different light.
BTW, did we mention that Being Latino is the brainchild of Lance Ríos, a Bronx resident? Who better than a Bronxite to found one of the largest latino social media group since we are the borough with the most latin flavor in NYC!
Last month, the Daily News ran a wonderful Bronx story about residents of a small West Farms walk-up banding together to try and form a co-op.
After years of neglect by the building’s owner who is located in the Hamptons, these brave tenants embarked on a journey which they hope will eventually lead to homeownership. Instead of simply withholding rent, they continued to do so by putting the rent money into an escrow account and then utilized the funds to correct the most severe of neglect such as rehabilitating several kitchens, hiring an exterminator for the gross infestation they were let to live in and even had their boiler repaired.
Read more about these model Bronxites banning together against injustice.
What does an Irishman and latinos have in common? Well a lot more than you may think. For starters director, Macdara Vallely of the Bronx and a native of Northern Ireland is married to a Puerto Rican and he speaks fluent Spanish.
Tonight, Vallely’s Bronx based film, “Babygirl” – a coming of age story with a twist, will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festivalaccording to the Daily News. 2 years ago, I had the pleasure of reading Vallely’s script which was completely engrossing and am now more than ecstatic that it has made it to the big screen.
Don’t forget to catch Babygirl at the festival or you can watch it online for a limited time only as well as vote for the film.
A big CONGRATULATIONS to Macdara Vallely, the cast and all who contributed to making this wonderful Bronx based film!
Many New Yorkers and Bronxites for that matter do not know that at one point, the Bronx was the most Jewish of all the boroughs. With over half a million residents of Jewish ancestry, they made up almost 57% of the population of our beloved borough in the 1930s through the 40s. According to bronxsynagogues.org, there were over 260 registered synagogues registered throughout the borough’s landscape. Most lived in the South Bronx with highest concentration around the lower Grand Concourse.
As Israel and the rest of the world observes Yom HaShoa, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, here is an account of a Bronx rabbi, as told by his son,
of how they saved one family.
The account begins:
“In the early 1940’s, my father was a rabbi in the Bronx, NYC. His salary was twenty dollars a week.
One day, he received a phone call. It was urgent, the man said. A matter of life and death. It was about the Jews in Europe.
The following Saturday morning, the man spoke to the congregation. He had “inside” information. The Nazis were planning to exterminate the Jews. The “relocation camps” were really death camps. Gas chambers. Gold extracted from the teeth of the dead, their body fat to be used to manufacture soap. He begged people to sign affidavits, at ten dollars each, documenting that they were seeking household help. This had to be done quickly. People could still be saved. Soon, it would be too late.
Everyone was shocked. Surely, this man was exaggerating. Maybe even crazy. Germany — the most cultured of countries — How could this be?
The man asked my parents to sign two affidavits, stating their interest in hiring a butler and maid. They would have to pay twenty dollars for the affidavits. A week’s salary – somehow they would manage. But my parents were not sure whether to believe him. And, documenting that they were hiring a butler and maid, in their small Bronx apartment? Wasn’t that fraud?
My parents gave him the money, and they put their signatures on the affidavits.
Three months later, the doorbell rang. A man and woman held a piece of paper. “We are looking for this family,” the man said, in heavily accented Yiddish. My family’s name was written on the paper. The woman bent down, and kissed the hem of my mother’s dress. “You saved us,” she said.Let us always remember and never forget.”
It was a picture perfect day for the Yankees’ home opener yesterday against the Los Angeles Angels. Not only was the sun shining and the temperatures milder than the beginning of the week but the Bronx Bombers beat the Angels 5-0.
As early as 11am, thousands of loyal fans had gathered at the stadium and for the next two hours thousands more kept coming. Due to Spring Break many children were in tow with their parents.
One little fan in particular was Mario Gomez, Jr from New Jersey who was visibly jubilant at the experience of opening day with his father, Mario Gomez who is a Bronx native.
Mario Gomez, Jr and his father, Mario Gomez
At 12:58pm, two F18 Fighter Jets flew over Yankee Stadium in honor of opening day but many local residents expressed their disapproval of what they felt was unnecessary. Several commented on Facebook saying that their apartments were rattling and car alarms going off all over the place was quite the nuisance.
Overall, whether you were a kid enjoying his first game or opening day, a couple on a date or just one of the gang hanging out, it was certainly a great day to be a Yankee fan.
These were just some of the words I kept hearing throughout what many consider to have been the event of the year and perhaps the new century for the Bronx. The event presented by No Longer Empty – the non profit entity that converts empty spaces into art exhibits and connects them to their neighborhoods is “This Side of Paradise” and has transformed the old Andrew Freedman Home on the Grand Concourse into a veritable art scene.
The evening began as I had gathered the troops and we walked over to the Home from my neighborhood. As we approached the massive palazzo, I began to feel a bit anxious for I knew that this evening would be one of the most important in the borough’s history and I wanted it to go smoothly. Here was one of the borough’s grandest buildings that sat so forbidding with its gates for so many years as myself and residents alike always wondered what the history of the building was – which we eventually found out that it was a retirement for the formerly wealthy so that they continue to live in the lifestyle in which they were accustomed to. But that all went out the window as I saw so many people walking in through the front gates of the estate. Ladies and gentlemen wearing period costumes of Prohibition speakeasy era greeted visitors or were seen carefully dusting the gates and signage. Later on through the evening, I noted that dozens upon dozens of ladies and some gents who were just visiting were also garbed in the fashion of the Roaring 20’s as they were getting into the spirit of the Home and the fundraiser at the end of the night.
As I walked through the gates and stepped off the Grand Concourse and onto the grounds of this imposing limestone beauty it was as if I stepped back into time. Already there was a substantial crowd on the front steps, milling about, socializing with drinks in hand. The people were a great, diverse mix of backgrounds and as colorful a palette as the colors of the exhibit indoors. A true representation of the rich, ethnic diversity found throughout the Bronx was well reflected in the throngs attending this opening reception.
We walked through the front doors – gorgeous masterpieces in their own right, and the sheer number of people was overwhelming. Literally hundreds could immediately be seen walking about this way or that trying to get from one room to another. Working our way through the crowd and rooms on the ground floor, we made it to the beautifully appointed bed and breakfast located in the south wing where we learned that you can stay in a room exam for as little as $125 per night.
After leaving the bed and breakfast wing we made our way towards the stairs to ascend to the second floor where all the buzz was with over 30 rooms all designed in their own unique way by each artist. The exhibits beautifully tie in the past history of the Andrew Freedman Home with the present realities of the Bronx. Outside one of the rooms was a board with the original keys to some rooms, along with the names of the former residents of the retirement home of the formerly wealthy who had fallen on hard times. Walking through the halls, you could feel the air thick with history, lore and perhaps the ghosts of some of the original residents walked along with us too.
Photographer Lisa Kahane of Fashion Moda fame who documented the South Bronx during the 80s with riveting photography that showed how bad things were during that dark era, is one of the many artists that you will find here.
Room 246, designed by Silvia Plachy, a photojournalist who had once visited the Andrew Freedman Home over 30 years ago, recreated the room to feel as it had back in the days when she was documenting its storied past. Once again you get that feeling of traveling in time when you walk into her exhibit with furnishings and personal effects of the artist that pertain to that period. While in Room 246 we spotted her son, Academy Award winner, Adrien Brody who was taking in the opening reception and enjoying his mother’s work.
Our very own Bronx Documentary Center has a chilling display where a documentary by the late war photojournalist Tim Hetherington who was killed in the line of duty, is shown on a wall of a room that was created to make you feel as if you were in the middle of action. To say that it made a profound impact and connection with these unsung heroes who risk their lives daily to report the truth is an understatement.
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By 8pm, which was closing time of the exhibit upstairs, the crowds had no sign of dwindling. In fact, my friend, Danisha Nazario who was just leaving the event quickly sent a text message stating that, “… TONS of people are begging to be let in – LITERALLY!” She later told us that a second security guard was posted at the entrance of the stairs to prevent anyone from getting in. This was confirmed as well made our way down and saw the hundreds of people still waiting to get in – all disappointed that it was closed too early. No one had anticipated the well over a thousand people who came last night, certainly not No Longer Empty for had they imagined the turn out would be so huge we’re sure the hours would have been extended. Perhaps they underestimated the thirst Bronxites have for the arts?
The evening ended with the fundraiser in the north wing’s ballroom, complete with a latin band playing the dulcet tones of salsa and love ballads. The air was charged with dancing and merry making as the visitors mingled with those alive and the ghosts of residents past who once walked the halls of this mansion. It was a night full of who’s who of Bronx society, every other minute being stopped by acquaintances, friends and colleagues. Beaming with pride were not so much the artists but Bronx residents who came out in full force to support our borough’s moment in the limelight. For many, it felt that finally, our time out of obscurity and darkness had arrived.
This is an exhibit that you should allow yourself ample time to experience and absorb. Should you not be able to fit it all in one day as it happened with me, fret not for it runs straight through June 5th, 2012 so you’ll be able to enjoy this free adventure on multiple visits. You can visit the Andrew Freedman Home on Thursdays through Sunday from 1pm – 7pm. (hours extended on days with special events).
As I stepped off the estate of this grand palazzo and onto the Grand Concourse, the glitter strewn sidewalk gleamed in the street and moonlight as if paved with gold.
