City Problems Not All of One Color!
The recent tone in many of the letters to the eitor in the Commercial Appeal has left me amazed. I am aware that Memphis has a decided African American majority. However, local black politicians taking bribes and our inner city's gang problems are not the only things in this city that need to be corrected. Very few savvy individuals would believe that recent federal investigations have eliminated corruption in our city.
Our city has a festering race relations problem that needs to be addressed. So often in the letters to the editor I read that various writers are canceling their subscriptions after your newspaper makes an endorsement that many don't agree with, such as your recent endorsement of Harold Ford Jr. in his run for the U. S. Senate. Every problem in this city does not have an African American face tied to it.
Sensational journalism would dictate that a media outlet would scare the dickens out of its readers each and every day until they are so scared that to miss the daily news for just one day would bring the scourge of our city to each reader's front door. I don't agree with the slant of recent articles and the response that those articles have garnered. For every corrupt local African American politician, for every black gang banger arrested at Houston High or Cordova High that our local media always highlights, there are 20 hardworking local African Americans working exceptionally hard to make the American dream a reality. Let's cover some of them more oftem!
By the way, I don't think that Mayor Willie Herenton killed the manatee!
Stephen F. Smith
Collierville
Monday, January 01, 2007
Ex Gangbanger Turns Life Around!
The right man
The Commercial Appeal
By David Waters
Ex-gangster turns life around, now he's on a mission with a message
January 1, 2007
T.J. spent a lot of years trying to be the man, but he turned out to be the wrong man.
"When I was recruiting for the gang, my first question was, 'Does his father stay with him?' 'Cause I don't need that," said Terrell 'T.J.' Johnson, a product of what he calls the North Memphis DNA -- Daddy Not Around.
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"Give me a single mama with four boys by four different men, you know what I'm saying? You know they need money, protection, status, power. They need a strong man in their life. I'm going to supply them, even if I'm the wrong man."
T.J.'s drug-dealing, gang-banging, childhood-robbing days are long behind him. He was released from prison in 1999, freed from his sins in 2003. Now he's trying to be a good man by working for the right man as pastor of -- "take a long breath before you say it" -- the Greater Fellowship Faith Tabernacle Full Gospel Baptist Church in Bolivar, Tenn.
Pastor T.J., a bear of a man with a booming voice and a bone-crushing handshake, talks to kids every chance he gets. He tells them
his story -- how he was bad news before he found the Good News, how he was lost and then found, how he died and was reborn.
"Getting caught and getting punished isn't what turned me around," T.J. said. "It was the grace of God that turned me around. That and people who came into my life and treated me like a child of God. I needed those people with me when I was a kid, when my mama was on crack and when my daddy was not around. It was the O.G. (original gangster) in the 'hood that raised me."
T.J., who will admit to being in his 30s, was born in Chicago and brought to North Memphis to live with his great-grandparents when he was about 3. He attended Caldwell Elementary and Frayser High, but he got his real education in the alleys and empty lots of the Scutterfield neighborhood.
"My mother died a junkie," T.J. said. "She never stayed with us. She was always on the go. She had five children by five different men. ... I don't know my father. My great-grandparents were churchgoers, but they were too old to raise me. It was guys on the outside that took me in, the gangsters who said, 'Hey, this is what a .38 looks like and this is what a .45 looks like. I was taught how to hustle. It's like the mafia."
T.J. said he started running drugs when he was about 9, dealing drugs when he was about 15. He formed his own gang, the Insane Disciples. He had all the money, cars, girls, guns and insanity he needed.
"I found out that crime does pay," T.J. said. "I really couldn't spell and I couldn't read that good, but I could count money. I could use a triple-beam to weigh and measure drugs. I got caught up and fascinated. I got smothered with that type of life. If you don't fight you get beat or killed. You had to be hard. I had a spirit on me to throw gas on you and set you on fire. I had a bad spirit."
T.J. got caught up. Eventually he got caught. He was arrested late in 1991 and charged with possession of a controlled substance (cocaine) with intent to manufacture, deliver and sell. He pleaded guilty in March 1992 and was given an eight-year suspended sentence and fined $4,012. Two years later, he violated his probation. He was in prison until 1999.
When he got out, T.J. found his way to the city's Second Chance program, which helps one-time felony offenders re-enter society. Along the way he met Dr. Rita Dorsey, former head of the criminology department at Southwest Tennessee Community College. In 2002, Mayor Willie Herenton appointed Dorsey to direct the city's new Juvenile Violence Abatement Program.
Dorsey hired T.J. to help. She also treated him like a child of God. She taught him about taking responsibility. She taught him to identify and appreciate his gifts and how to be a role model.
T.J. spoke to hundreds of kids in dozens of city and county schools.
"Programs don't work. People work," Dorsey said. "I tend to be cynical when it comes to cons and ex-cons, but T.J. is sincere and he's effective. Kids listen to him because he keeps it real. He's been there."
T.J. got another second chance about three years ago when he met Bishop William Young and his wife, Pastor Diane Young, co-founders of the Healing Center Full Gospel Baptist Church. T.J. was struggling. His mother had died of an overdose. A month later, his younger brother was killed in a drug deal in Atlanta. T.J. vowed to avenge his brother's murder.
The Youngs taught T.J. about repentance and forgiveness. They taught him about grace. They taught him the Bible story of Saul, the Christian killer who -- by the grace of God -- became the Apostle Paul.
T.J. felt like a new man.
"What you see in T.J. is an example of a transformed life," said Bishop Young. "I've seen a lot of guys who said they've changed, but this guy is genuine. He shows he has changed."
Now, T.J. is pastoring the church in Bolivar, which was founded by the Youngs. He's trying to be a father to his 18-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter. T.J. and his wife, Lisa (they were married in 2004), have formed the Wake Up Youth Foundation. They have a van, recently donated by WREG-TV, Dobbs Ford, City Auto and vanwraps.com.
They also have a mission and a message.
T.J. has taken that message all the way to the Washington. He spoke earlier this year at a conference for the President's Help America's Youth Initiative. In recent weeks, he has spoken to children and adults in Denver and Atlanta and several other cities.
It's a message he used to deliver all over Memphis and Shelby County. Late last year, the city, facing budget shortfalls and shifting away from community policing, pulled the plug on the Juvenile Violence Abatement Program. Dorsey was appointed to another position. T.J. was let go. But T.J. still speaks to kids and adults every chance he gets.
"Most of the kids I deal with today, they say, 'My mama be tripping' or 'My daddy, I don't know where that sucker's at.' They're angry. They're raising themselves. ... No wonder we've got 14-year-old kids having kids. That 14-year-old girl is on her own and she's easy prey for men. That 14-year-old boy has a friend who's 21 and you wonder why you've got a Glock in your house.
"I know. That 14-year-old boy was me. That man preying on the girls was me. We've got to raise our children. They can't raise themselves, and that's where the problem is. A lot of men, especially black guys, we say we're not with our baby's mama because of what that woman did to us ... .
"My point is this," said T.J., taking a long breath before he said it.
"See, it's the black man who has to go back and get his child. We've got to take care of our families. I mean the black man. If you don't raise your child, another man will and it will be the wrong man.
The Commercial Appeal
By David Waters
Ex-gangster turns life around, now he's on a mission with a message
January 1, 2007
T.J. spent a lot of years trying to be the man, but he turned out to be the wrong man.
"When I was recruiting for the gang, my first question was, 'Does his father stay with him?' 'Cause I don't need that," said Terrell 'T.J.' Johnson, a product of what he calls the North Memphis DNA -- Daddy Not Around.
Advertisement
"Give me a single mama with four boys by four different men, you know what I'm saying? You know they need money, protection, status, power. They need a strong man in their life. I'm going to supply them, even if I'm the wrong man."
T.J.'s drug-dealing, gang-banging, childhood-robbing days are long behind him. He was released from prison in 1999, freed from his sins in 2003. Now he's trying to be a good man by working for the right man as pastor of -- "take a long breath before you say it" -- the Greater Fellowship Faith Tabernacle Full Gospel Baptist Church in Bolivar, Tenn.
Pastor T.J., a bear of a man with a booming voice and a bone-crushing handshake, talks to kids every chance he gets. He tells them
his story -- how he was bad news before he found the Good News, how he was lost and then found, how he died and was reborn.
"Getting caught and getting punished isn't what turned me around," T.J. said. "It was the grace of God that turned me around. That and people who came into my life and treated me like a child of God. I needed those people with me when I was a kid, when my mama was on crack and when my daddy was not around. It was the O.G. (original gangster) in the 'hood that raised me."
T.J., who will admit to being in his 30s, was born in Chicago and brought to North Memphis to live with his great-grandparents when he was about 3. He attended Caldwell Elementary and Frayser High, but he got his real education in the alleys and empty lots of the Scutterfield neighborhood.
"My mother died a junkie," T.J. said. "She never stayed with us. She was always on the go. She had five children by five different men. ... I don't know my father. My great-grandparents were churchgoers, but they were too old to raise me. It was guys on the outside that took me in, the gangsters who said, 'Hey, this is what a .38 looks like and this is what a .45 looks like. I was taught how to hustle. It's like the mafia."
T.J. said he started running drugs when he was about 9, dealing drugs when he was about 15. He formed his own gang, the Insane Disciples. He had all the money, cars, girls, guns and insanity he needed.
"I found out that crime does pay," T.J. said. "I really couldn't spell and I couldn't read that good, but I could count money. I could use a triple-beam to weigh and measure drugs. I got caught up and fascinated. I got smothered with that type of life. If you don't fight you get beat or killed. You had to be hard. I had a spirit on me to throw gas on you and set you on fire. I had a bad spirit."
T.J. got caught up. Eventually he got caught. He was arrested late in 1991 and charged with possession of a controlled substance (cocaine) with intent to manufacture, deliver and sell. He pleaded guilty in March 1992 and was given an eight-year suspended sentence and fined $4,012. Two years later, he violated his probation. He was in prison until 1999.
When he got out, T.J. found his way to the city's Second Chance program, which helps one-time felony offenders re-enter society. Along the way he met Dr. Rita Dorsey, former head of the criminology department at Southwest Tennessee Community College. In 2002, Mayor Willie Herenton appointed Dorsey to direct the city's new Juvenile Violence Abatement Program.
Dorsey hired T.J. to help. She also treated him like a child of God. She taught him about taking responsibility. She taught him to identify and appreciate his gifts and how to be a role model.
T.J. spoke to hundreds of kids in dozens of city and county schools.
"Programs don't work. People work," Dorsey said. "I tend to be cynical when it comes to cons and ex-cons, but T.J. is sincere and he's effective. Kids listen to him because he keeps it real. He's been there."
T.J. got another second chance about three years ago when he met Bishop William Young and his wife, Pastor Diane Young, co-founders of the Healing Center Full Gospel Baptist Church. T.J. was struggling. His mother had died of an overdose. A month later, his younger brother was killed in a drug deal in Atlanta. T.J. vowed to avenge his brother's murder.
The Youngs taught T.J. about repentance and forgiveness. They taught him about grace. They taught him the Bible story of Saul, the Christian killer who -- by the grace of God -- became the Apostle Paul.
T.J. felt like a new man.
"What you see in T.J. is an example of a transformed life," said Bishop Young. "I've seen a lot of guys who said they've changed, but this guy is genuine. He shows he has changed."
Now, T.J. is pastoring the church in Bolivar, which was founded by the Youngs. He's trying to be a father to his 18-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter. T.J. and his wife, Lisa (they were married in 2004), have formed the Wake Up Youth Foundation. They have a van, recently donated by WREG-TV, Dobbs Ford, City Auto and vanwraps.com.
They also have a mission and a message.
T.J. has taken that message all the way to the Washington. He spoke earlier this year at a conference for the President's Help America's Youth Initiative. In recent weeks, he has spoken to children and adults in Denver and Atlanta and several other cities.
It's a message he used to deliver all over Memphis and Shelby County. Late last year, the city, facing budget shortfalls and shifting away from community policing, pulled the plug on the Juvenile Violence Abatement Program. Dorsey was appointed to another position. T.J. was let go. But T.J. still speaks to kids and adults every chance he gets.
"Most of the kids I deal with today, they say, 'My mama be tripping' or 'My daddy, I don't know where that sucker's at.' They're angry. They're raising themselves. ... No wonder we've got 14-year-old kids having kids. That 14-year-old girl is on her own and she's easy prey for men. That 14-year-old boy has a friend who's 21 and you wonder why you've got a Glock in your house.
"I know. That 14-year-old boy was me. That man preying on the girls was me. We've got to raise our children. They can't raise themselves, and that's where the problem is. A lot of men, especially black guys, we say we're not with our baby's mama because of what that woman did to us ... .
"My point is this," said T.J., taking a long breath before he said it.
"See, it's the black man who has to go back and get his child. We've got to take care of our families. I mean the black man. If you don't raise your child, another man will and it will be the wrong man.
Commercial Appeal Article States Memphis Going Majority Black!
Metro going majority black
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By Jimmie Covington
Contact
December 31, 2006
The Memphis metro area is poised in a few years to become the nation's first large metropolitan area with a majority African-American population.
A good indication of what's to come can be gleaned from 2005 U.S. Census Bureau estimates that show the non-Hispanic white population in the eight-county Memphis metro area dipping below 50 percent for the first time.
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The estimates show that group at 622,235 residents, or 49.4 percent of the area's 1,260,905 residents. The same 2005 estimates show 568,875 African-American residents, or 45.1 percent of the total population.
The numbers mean that while the non-Hispanic white population is still the largest group in terms of percentage, no single group makes up more than 50 percent of the total population -- for now. If current birth-death and migration trends continue, African-Americans will claim the 50 percent-plus distinction.
When that happens, the Memphis area may draw even more study than it is already receiving, says Dr. Louis Pol, a demographer at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a former faculty member at the University of Memphis.
"Clearly, people will be asking questions about how does a metro area with a predominantly African-American population do with regard to economic development, job growth and that type thing," he said.
"There will be issues regarding political structure and how people vote and whether or not they have been successful in bringing county and city services together. That is always a big issue in lots of places."
The Memphis area doesn't have the largest or the fastest-growing African-American population, but for several decades it has ranked No. 1 in percentage of African-American population among the nation's large metro areas.
The 2000 Census showed the Memphis area's black population at 43.2 percent. In the No. 2 spot was New Orleans at 37.4 percent, but Hurricane Katrina in 2005 resulted in a drastic reduction in New Orleans' population.
The U.S. already has 14 other metropolitan areas in which groups other than non-Hispanic whites make up more than 50 percent of the population, but the Hispanic population is the majority group in all but one of those areas. The Asian population is the largest group in Honolulu.
In the nation as a whole, the Census Bureau projects that non-Hispanic white residents will make up only 50 percent of the nation's residents by 2050. Non-Hispanic white residents now make up about 67 percent of the nation's population. The coming shift is primarily the result of the rapid Hispanic population growth.
Four states -- California, Hawaii, New Mexico and Texas -- already have groups other than non-Hispanic whites as the population leaders statewide. The Hispanic population is again the key factor in all but Hawaii, where Asians are the top group.
In the Memphis area, the white total was listed as 657,481, or 52.1 percent, in the 2005 estimates. However, the estimates show that 35,246 of the white residents were Hispanics. Under Census Bureau classifications, Hispanics can be of any race and most Hispanics report themselves as white.
Subtracting those who are Hispanic gives the figure of 622,235 for non-Hispanic whites.
Pol said when the Memphis area does become more than 50 percent African-American, it may be at least a decade, and perhaps two or more decades, before another large metropolitan area reaches the same distinction. However, Pol said a few smaller metro areas may have already reached that point or are almost there.
The five-county Jackson, Miss., metro area is nearing having African-Americans as the largest group, for example. But with a 2005 population estimate of 522,580, the Jackson area is not yet considered among the nation's large metro areas.
Rick Schneider, geography instructor at Northwest Mississippi Community College at DeSoto Center in Southaven, said he believes employment opportunities and housing availability are among factors that are shaping the demographics of the Memphis metro area.
"When you look at job growth in Memphis, my reaction tells me, from looking down on Shelby Drive and State Line Road, etc., and seeing those warehouses growing up like mushrooms, that the opportunities are in service industries," Schneider said.
-- Jimmie Covington: (662) 996-1406
BY THE NUMBERS
Estimates from 2003 show the Memphis area ranked fifth in the percentage of African-American population among the nation's 361 metro areas. The four with higher percentages (all smaller markets) were:
Albany, Ga., 49.2 percent
Sumter, S.C., 48.9 percent
Pine Bluff, Ark., 46.4 percent
Jackson, Miss., 46.1 percent
Story Tools
E-mail this story | Print
By Jimmie Covington
Contact
December 31, 2006
The Memphis metro area is poised in a few years to become the nation's first large metropolitan area with a majority African-American population.
A good indication of what's to come can be gleaned from 2005 U.S. Census Bureau estimates that show the non-Hispanic white population in the eight-county Memphis metro area dipping below 50 percent for the first time.
Advertisement
The estimates show that group at 622,235 residents, or 49.4 percent of the area's 1,260,905 residents. The same 2005 estimates show 568,875 African-American residents, or 45.1 percent of the total population.
The numbers mean that while the non-Hispanic white population is still the largest group in terms of percentage, no single group makes up more than 50 percent of the total population -- for now. If current birth-death and migration trends continue, African-Americans will claim the 50 percent-plus distinction.
When that happens, the Memphis area may draw even more study than it is already receiving, says Dr. Louis Pol, a demographer at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a former faculty member at the University of Memphis.
"Clearly, people will be asking questions about how does a metro area with a predominantly African-American population do with regard to economic development, job growth and that type thing," he said.
"There will be issues regarding political structure and how people vote and whether or not they have been successful in bringing county and city services together. That is always a big issue in lots of places."
The Memphis area doesn't have the largest or the fastest-growing African-American population, but for several decades it has ranked No. 1 in percentage of African-American population among the nation's large metro areas.
The 2000 Census showed the Memphis area's black population at 43.2 percent. In the No. 2 spot was New Orleans at 37.4 percent, but Hurricane Katrina in 2005 resulted in a drastic reduction in New Orleans' population.
The U.S. already has 14 other metropolitan areas in which groups other than non-Hispanic whites make up more than 50 percent of the population, but the Hispanic population is the majority group in all but one of those areas. The Asian population is the largest group in Honolulu.
In the nation as a whole, the Census Bureau projects that non-Hispanic white residents will make up only 50 percent of the nation's residents by 2050. Non-Hispanic white residents now make up about 67 percent of the nation's population. The coming shift is primarily the result of the rapid Hispanic population growth.
Four states -- California, Hawaii, New Mexico and Texas -- already have groups other than non-Hispanic whites as the population leaders statewide. The Hispanic population is again the key factor in all but Hawaii, where Asians are the top group.
In the Memphis area, the white total was listed as 657,481, or 52.1 percent, in the 2005 estimates. However, the estimates show that 35,246 of the white residents were Hispanics. Under Census Bureau classifications, Hispanics can be of any race and most Hispanics report themselves as white.
Subtracting those who are Hispanic gives the figure of 622,235 for non-Hispanic whites.
Pol said when the Memphis area does become more than 50 percent African-American, it may be at least a decade, and perhaps two or more decades, before another large metropolitan area reaches the same distinction. However, Pol said a few smaller metro areas may have already reached that point or are almost there.
The five-county Jackson, Miss., metro area is nearing having African-Americans as the largest group, for example. But with a 2005 population estimate of 522,580, the Jackson area is not yet considered among the nation's large metro areas.
Rick Schneider, geography instructor at Northwest Mississippi Community College at DeSoto Center in Southaven, said he believes employment opportunities and housing availability are among factors that are shaping the demographics of the Memphis metro area.
"When you look at job growth in Memphis, my reaction tells me, from looking down on Shelby Drive and State Line Road, etc., and seeing those warehouses growing up like mushrooms, that the opportunities are in service industries," Schneider said.
-- Jimmie Covington: (662) 996-1406
BY THE NUMBERS
Estimates from 2003 show the Memphis area ranked fifth in the percentage of African-American population among the nation's 361 metro areas. The four with higher percentages (all smaller markets) were:
Albany, Ga., 49.2 percent
Sumter, S.C., 48.9 percent
Pine Bluff, Ark., 46.4 percent
Jackson, Miss., 46.1 percent
Friday, November 17, 2006
Rev. Floyd Flake
New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
Rev Invested in God & Man
Monday, November 13th, 2006
"My father told us never to invest in improving someone else's property," the Rev. Floyd Flake tells his visitor. "He only had a fifth-grade education, but knew that you put your money into things you own."
With the 2008 mayoral election looming and people urging him to run, you have to wonder how the former congressman and current full-time pastor of the Greater Allen AME Cathedral of New York in Jamaica, Queens, plans to broker his winning investment in Tuesday's election.
Flake, 61, is on a first-name basis with almost all of the local Democratic Party politicians who helped take over the statehouse and Congress. Most of the New York delegations journeyed out to southwestern Queens in the days before the final tally seeking Flake's endorsement.
"Bill and Hillary were here last week," Flake says. "Eliot and David, Alan, they all have been here."
That's ex-President Bill and Sen. Hillary Clinton; Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer and his running mate, David Paterson, and embattled but comfortably reelected state Controller Alan Hevesi.
Those political heavyweights came to Allen to see Flake, who over his 28 years in the pulpit has seen the 1,500-member congregation explode to more than 23,000. The church has an annual budget of more than $34 million and holdings, mostly property and businesses the church has developed in and around Jamaica and St. Albans, Queens, valued at more than $140 million.
Allen AME was once the second-largest employer of African-Americans in the state, behind Beatrice Foods. Four years ago, it ranked in the mid-50s among the top 100 African-American-owned corporations in the country.
The church is building 54 apartments and several ground-floor retail shops directly across Merrick Blvd. from its front door. The Allen Affordable Housing Complex is scheduled to open this spring.
It will join 300 units of senior housing the church owns a short distance away, a retail complex up the street and more than 100 two-family houses the church has built under Flake's stewardship, most while using a system of state and federal tax credits and by leveraging the equity in other church property.
Those two-family houses, which sold for $89,000 when they were built, now command $250,000 or more, he said.
"We've been building for over 30 years," Flake said on a drive through the Jamaica community. "We started buying land way back, when most surveys were saying the middle-class community in Queens was in decline."
Flake, newly arrived at what was then Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church, said he did his own survey and found that the average household income in the Jamaica, St. Albans and Cambria Heights communities was actually higher than in surrounding communities.
The latest U.S. Census Bureau data show that, at $52,000 a year, average African-American household incomes in several South Queens communities - including Jamaica and St. Albans - surpasses that of the average of whites in Queens.
Flake said Allen's construction projects attracted more private development to the area, increasing the housing and business stock each year.
"Private developers came in and built up projects next to ours," he said. "Other private owners came in and built more. Over the years that changed the face of the community. You can barely find a vacant lot around here where someone is not building something."
It helped, Flake said, that he spent his six terms in Congress - 1986-97 - as a centrist who would work with colleagues from either side of the aisle.
"My focus was on community development," he said. "I was not there to ingratiate myself with the powers that be."
Flake said Allen anchored southern Queens property values and positioned the community for a rebirth, while African-American communities like Harlem did not fare as well.
"Calvin [Butts, pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church] did well with development, but some of the Harlem leadership did not perceive the nature of the land," Flake said. Versed in civil rights doctrine intent on ending racial discrimination, Flake contends that Harlem politicians wanted to tell of the wrongs inflicted on their community but sometimes underestimated the importance of development.
"They spoke truth to power. I was about getting economic power to the people," he said. "You have to do more than talk about what is not being done. The transition from civil rights to civil living has not taken place. You don't get ready for the future by only talking about the past."
So will he run to replace Michael Bloomberg, the Republican mayor he crossed party lines to endorse during Bloomberg's first campaign? Flake's not sure, saying his age at election time and the expected strong candidacies of Rep. Anthony Weiner and City Controller William Thompson will be factors in his decision.
Still, "I'll have to take a serious look at it," Flake said. "Once you've been in politics, you never want to say you'll never go back."
Rev Invested in God & Man
Monday, November 13th, 2006
"My father told us never to invest in improving someone else's property," the Rev. Floyd Flake tells his visitor. "He only had a fifth-grade education, but knew that you put your money into things you own."
With the 2008 mayoral election looming and people urging him to run, you have to wonder how the former congressman and current full-time pastor of the Greater Allen AME Cathedral of New York in Jamaica, Queens, plans to broker his winning investment in Tuesday's election.
Flake, 61, is on a first-name basis with almost all of the local Democratic Party politicians who helped take over the statehouse and Congress. Most of the New York delegations journeyed out to southwestern Queens in the days before the final tally seeking Flake's endorsement.
"Bill and Hillary were here last week," Flake says. "Eliot and David, Alan, they all have been here."
That's ex-President Bill and Sen. Hillary Clinton; Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer and his running mate, David Paterson, and embattled but comfortably reelected state Controller Alan Hevesi.
Those political heavyweights came to Allen to see Flake, who over his 28 years in the pulpit has seen the 1,500-member congregation explode to more than 23,000. The church has an annual budget of more than $34 million and holdings, mostly property and businesses the church has developed in and around Jamaica and St. Albans, Queens, valued at more than $140 million.
Allen AME was once the second-largest employer of African-Americans in the state, behind Beatrice Foods. Four years ago, it ranked in the mid-50s among the top 100 African-American-owned corporations in the country.
The church is building 54 apartments and several ground-floor retail shops directly across Merrick Blvd. from its front door. The Allen Affordable Housing Complex is scheduled to open this spring.
It will join 300 units of senior housing the church owns a short distance away, a retail complex up the street and more than 100 two-family houses the church has built under Flake's stewardship, most while using a system of state and federal tax credits and by leveraging the equity in other church property.
Those two-family houses, which sold for $89,000 when they were built, now command $250,000 or more, he said.
"We've been building for over 30 years," Flake said on a drive through the Jamaica community. "We started buying land way back, when most surveys were saying the middle-class community in Queens was in decline."
Flake, newly arrived at what was then Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church, said he did his own survey and found that the average household income in the Jamaica, St. Albans and Cambria Heights communities was actually higher than in surrounding communities.
The latest U.S. Census Bureau data show that, at $52,000 a year, average African-American household incomes in several South Queens communities - including Jamaica and St. Albans - surpasses that of the average of whites in Queens.
Flake said Allen's construction projects attracted more private development to the area, increasing the housing and business stock each year.
"Private developers came in and built up projects next to ours," he said. "Other private owners came in and built more. Over the years that changed the face of the community. You can barely find a vacant lot around here where someone is not building something."
It helped, Flake said, that he spent his six terms in Congress - 1986-97 - as a centrist who would work with colleagues from either side of the aisle.
"My focus was on community development," he said. "I was not there to ingratiate myself with the powers that be."
Flake said Allen anchored southern Queens property values and positioned the community for a rebirth, while African-American communities like Harlem did not fare as well.
"Calvin [Butts, pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church] did well with development, but some of the Harlem leadership did not perceive the nature of the land," Flake said. Versed in civil rights doctrine intent on ending racial discrimination, Flake contends that Harlem politicians wanted to tell of the wrongs inflicted on their community but sometimes underestimated the importance of development.
"They spoke truth to power. I was about getting economic power to the people," he said. "You have to do more than talk about what is not being done. The transition from civil rights to civil living has not taken place. You don't get ready for the future by only talking about the past."
So will he run to replace Michael Bloomberg, the Republican mayor he crossed party lines to endorse during Bloomberg's first campaign? Flake's not sure, saying his age at election time and the expected strong candidacies of Rep. Anthony Weiner and City Controller William Thompson will be factors in his decision.
Still, "I'll have to take a serious look at it," Flake said. "Once you've been in politics, you never want to say you'll never go back."
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Speaking Pentecostal
Anointing:Used to describe any non-regular emotion (crying in the middle of a song when you forget the words, telling the church off (particularly when its over tithes and offering), doing the Olympic shout around the church (first one that hits the wall gets a white hanky tied around their neck!) ( I won't lie...I have ran around my church a coupla times....shoot it felt good!)
Trick of the Enemy:Used to describe anything that happens because you didn't do what you were supposed to, like your car getting repossessed cause you didn't pay the note, lights getting shut off cause you quit work to go on tour with the pastors choir, or your child repeating the first grade cause he missed the whole second semester to go on a 90 day/90 night fast and consecration. (The Enemy done played some tricks on me )
*Of course, we know there is grace*
Rhema Word:Any message from an out-of-town pastor or evangelist. (Yeah ...I love them)
Prophetic Word:Same message from that out-of-town pastor, delivered 5 decibels louder, while the congregation is standing. Quiet organ music optional, but works better with silence. (Def with the music)
Carnal:Used to describe a saint who goes to the movies. This term doesn't apply if you rent the same movie from Blockbuster. ( I saw a couple from church at the movies and they looked like deer in some headlights....I know they didnt want to see me LOL)
Didn't God Move?:What saints say after a long service where the pastor doesn't preach and they just shout the whole service. (Sholl is right!!! Love that)
Unlock Your Blessing: What preachers say after they've finished preaching, and they say you must give $50 to "unlock your blessing." For a more dramatic effect, this offering can be started at $1,000 and worked down to $25. ( You ain't never lie)
He'll Do It If You Let Him (followed by inaudible tongues): Round one of shouting; will begin in 5 minutes. Organist Get Ready ( I'm getting ready too LOL)
We Got To Move On: What the preacher says when he wants shout time to start up again. Organist, turn up the volume on the Leslie. (HMM)
We Have Time for One More Testimony: Not really, we're just waiting on the pastor to come into service. If you're called on during this one, when you hear clapping, just stop talking, cause the pastor has walked in and people are no longer interested in what God did for you. (I fell out on this one...cause I've seen it happen and I thought the same thing)
We Can Never Pay for the Word: Get your checkbook out, the auction will begin momentarily! This phrase always comes before the offering is taken for the guest speaker. ( They do say that)
God Has Been Dealing with Me on Some Issues: I'm still doing what I was doing before I got saved, only now I just put in an extra $5 in my offering when I do it. (Oh my goodness)
Is He Worthy?: Of course He is; why ask a question like that. (Exactly)
Let Us Go To God in Our Own Way: This is what you say when they ask you to pray in church and you don't know what to say.
Get Ready, Get Ready, Get Ready!!!: Don't really know what this one means, but if you're not careful, a shout could break out when you say it. It must be said three times to have real impact.
I Can't Get No Help: Preachers say this when no one says amen in the spot they thought would get a lot of amens.
I'm Blessed and Highly Favored: Said when a fellow saint asks "how are you?" Memo to saints: you CAN be saved and answer "fine" when someone asks how are you.
Where The Spirit of The Lord is, There is liberty: Whenever you want to disrupt service and holler out when it's quiet, use this statement to justify your behavior.
Get Ready To Go To The Next Level: This means the church will be hosting another revival in a few months.
Stand To Your Feet: This gives the illusion that the preacher is finished, but be prepared to stand up for at least 1/2 hour. May be cut to 15 minutes if the organist starts playing softly.
Give God a Shabach: Scream to the top of your lungs. Some church members may blow whistles and wave flags as well.
Every Head Bowed, Every Eye Closed: Quick! Everyone look around to see who's getting saved again this week.
Secular: Any person, place, object or event that's not in the church.
The "Yes Lord" Song: Signals the official end to shout time. Anyone still shouting when this song is over is considered to be "in self".
In Self: Used to describe someone who acts alone in church. For example, someone who is shouting alone. Add two more people to this display and its called...
In The Spirit: When three people are doing the same thing in a church service at the same time.
Prayer Partner: Phone buddy. 5 minutes of prayer, 1 hour of church gossiping.
(definitions also apply to COGIC, Charismatic and most anything seen on TBN... not that there's anything wrong with that! ;)
Trick of the Enemy:Used to describe anything that happens because you didn't do what you were supposed to, like your car getting repossessed cause you didn't pay the note, lights getting shut off cause you quit work to go on tour with the pastors choir, or your child repeating the first grade cause he missed the whole second semester to go on a 90 day/90 night fast and consecration. (The Enemy done played some tricks on me )
*Of course, we know there is grace*
Rhema Word:Any message from an out-of-town pastor or evangelist. (Yeah ...I love them)
Prophetic Word:Same message from that out-of-town pastor, delivered 5 decibels louder, while the congregation is standing. Quiet organ music optional, but works better with silence. (Def with the music)
Carnal:Used to describe a saint who goes to the movies. This term doesn't apply if you rent the same movie from Blockbuster. ( I saw a couple from church at the movies and they looked like deer in some headlights....I know they didnt want to see me LOL)
Didn't God Move?:What saints say after a long service where the pastor doesn't preach and they just shout the whole service. (Sholl is right!!! Love that)
Unlock Your Blessing: What preachers say after they've finished preaching, and they say you must give $50 to "unlock your blessing." For a more dramatic effect, this offering can be started at $1,000 and worked down to $25. ( You ain't never lie)
He'll Do It If You Let Him (followed by inaudible tongues): Round one of shouting; will begin in 5 minutes. Organist Get Ready ( I'm getting ready too LOL)
We Got To Move On: What the preacher says when he wants shout time to start up again. Organist, turn up the volume on the Leslie. (HMM)
We Have Time for One More Testimony: Not really, we're just waiting on the pastor to come into service. If you're called on during this one, when you hear clapping, just stop talking, cause the pastor has walked in and people are no longer interested in what God did for you. (I fell out on this one...cause I've seen it happen and I thought the same thing)
We Can Never Pay for the Word: Get your checkbook out, the auction will begin momentarily! This phrase always comes before the offering is taken for the guest speaker. ( They do say that)
God Has Been Dealing with Me on Some Issues: I'm still doing what I was doing before I got saved, only now I just put in an extra $5 in my offering when I do it. (Oh my goodness)
Is He Worthy?: Of course He is; why ask a question like that. (Exactly)
Let Us Go To God in Our Own Way: This is what you say when they ask you to pray in church and you don't know what to say.
Get Ready, Get Ready, Get Ready!!!: Don't really know what this one means, but if you're not careful, a shout could break out when you say it. It must be said three times to have real impact.
I Can't Get No Help: Preachers say this when no one says amen in the spot they thought would get a lot of amens.
I'm Blessed and Highly Favored: Said when a fellow saint asks "how are you?" Memo to saints: you CAN be saved and answer "fine" when someone asks how are you.
Where The Spirit of The Lord is, There is liberty: Whenever you want to disrupt service and holler out when it's quiet, use this statement to justify your behavior.
Get Ready To Go To The Next Level: This means the church will be hosting another revival in a few months.
Stand To Your Feet: This gives the illusion that the preacher is finished, but be prepared to stand up for at least 1/2 hour. May be cut to 15 minutes if the organist starts playing softly.
Give God a Shabach: Scream to the top of your lungs. Some church members may blow whistles and wave flags as well.
Every Head Bowed, Every Eye Closed: Quick! Everyone look around to see who's getting saved again this week.
Secular: Any person, place, object or event that's not in the church.
The "Yes Lord" Song: Signals the official end to shout time. Anyone still shouting when this song is over is considered to be "in self".
In Self: Used to describe someone who acts alone in church. For example, someone who is shouting alone. Add two more people to this display and its called...
In The Spirit: When three people are doing the same thing in a church service at the same time.
Prayer Partner: Phone buddy. 5 minutes of prayer, 1 hour of church gossiping.
(definitions also apply to COGIC, Charismatic and most anything seen on TBN... not that there's anything wrong with that! ;)
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Thursday, October 26, 2006
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