Not Mad: Group of Bed-Stuy men, We Make Us Better, escort pedestrians in the wake of robberies
Posted: December 1, 2010 Filed under: Articles, Gender, Not Mad Leave a comment »They’re not part of a political club, they don’t come from any one church and they’ve never been particularly active in the community – until now.
After a spate of recent muggings and robberies, a group of 20 Bedford-Stuyvesant men started escorting people home as they got off the train and are walking through the neighborhood reaching out to young men.
“We’re not the Guardian Angels, we’re not armed,” said Kareem Varlack, 35, a field technician for Verizon and a founding member of the group We Make Us Better.
“We’re about encouraging males to be involved, because you don’t see men in their 20s, 30s and 40s involved in the community anymore, so we’re trying to bridge that gap.”
Once a week – on random evenings – the men walk subway riders home from the Utica Ave. train station. They also sponsored a neighborhood outreach walk earlier this month, stopping to talk to young men hanging out on the corners.
“I’ve been here now 15 years, and I never walk around,” said co-founder Thomas Simms, 41, who works in finance.
“I’ve never done any kind of marching or activism. I deal with the swim team parents at the Bed-Stuy YMCA, that’s as far as I go
Not Mad: Where Are All the Black Farmers?
Posted: November 16, 2010 Filed under: Health, Not Mad, Race Leave a comment »The sustainable food movement has been criticized (somewhat justifiably) as a movement for upper middle class, white, Whole Foods shoppers. Enter the Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference. The event, which takes place in Brooklyn this weekend, will see the gathering of food activists and educators from across the nation to have a frank conversation about food justice.
The conference — designed for educators, farmers, food workers, community organizers, and leaders — aims to examine the junction of food, health, poverty, and access to develop strategies that can break down our current food system’s barriers. America’s current food system “is increasingly alienated from the needs of…
Not Mad At All: New York Fashion Week 2010: “This is my runway”
Posted: September 19, 2010 Filed under: Fashion, Not Mad Leave a comment »
Shavonne DeAnn crashes Mercedes Benz NYFW 9.11.2010 to showcase a preview of her fall line.
ShavonneDeann.com
