Why is the horrific incident which occurred in Howard Beach last Wednesday turning out to be about politicians and Al Sharpton? Why do the politicians of record think that they must report to Al Sharpton in matters concerning race? Is Al Sharpton some kind of arbiter on New York City’s race matters? Bob Herbert, who admits to being stunned that Al Sharpton is the voice of race relations in America, says that we should investigate the incident, prosecute the offenders and move on. Okay except for the fact that we shouldn’t move on so fast. We seem to have a desire in America to “put stuff behind us,

I slept last night in a comfortable bed.
I went shopping today for whatever I need.
The wind swept latte cups all over the ground,
and midtown seemed to teeter with greed.
He was standing at the entrance to Bryant Park.
As the Friday evening heat took hold.
he was handing out flyers to anyone who would look.
He was simply asking them to please read.

At first I thought it was some kind of menu or scam,
or one of those image factories.
But no – his story was about something else.
He was leafletting for Unite/Here.
He wanted the cocktail hour people to know,
that Bryant Park Grill isn’t clean.
Cause its laundry is done in an old fashioned sweatshop.
And the workers don’t have many dreams.

Nobody stopped to listen,
though his manner was mild and kind.
They knew he was not part of their search for pod.
So they passed his message by.
I picked up the flyer and nodded my head.
We said Hola, como esta, – I moved on.
I meant to go over and talk to him some more.
But when I looked up from my laptop – he was gone.

I still have his flyer and his face in my head.
But I don’t know if he is still employed.
Some of his friends found their jobs jeopardized.
North American Linen was annoyed.
The NLRB seems to be on the case.
Though I doubt they are in any rush.
Six dollars an hour and a lack of health care.
Probably wouldn’t bother them too much.

I wonder if the perpetrators who attacked and chased three Black men yesterday morning in Howard Beach, Queens,, inadvertently saved their lives. The article says that the three Black victims were in the all white (.1% Black) neighborhood to steal a car. I don't know if that is true, because the article has a number of problems, including vagueness about the primary victim's military status, and the amount of time it takes to walk a couple of blocks. Plus it doesn't matter if it is true. As the D.A. keeps repeating, at the time of the incident, they had not committed a crime.

Leaving all of that aside, supposing the victims had managed to attempt a car theft. What if one of the newly "tolerant" residents of Howard Beach had caught them. I say "tolerant", because the supplementary article demonstrates that the residents are anything but. One woman asked, " "But what was he doing here at three in the morning, robbing?", as if the only thing they could have been up to was crime.

(The alleged intent on the part of the three men to commit a crime in Howard Beach is currently under dispute, and, regardless, THEY HAD NOT COMMITTEd A CRIME SIMPLY BY BEING IN HOWARD BEACH). The owners of automobiles that the victims might have tried to steal, might have had weapons. They sure sound like the kind of people who have weapons, even if those weapons, rather than unlicensed firearms, are baseball bats or knives. The three men could have been killed or severely wounded. As it was, they were chased, and terrorized. But so far, all three are alive.

Guitar Lessons, Terre Roche and September 11th, 2001.

Every Wednesday evening, I join a group of people in a classroom at the Guitar Study Center on W. 13th Street. I didn’t think I would be able to afford classes, at this place affiliated with the expensive New School, but the lessons are reasonably priced and there are certain deals if you take two classes – for example, an instrument and a theory class. I have always wanted to study the guitar and the opportunity is exciting for me. But there is more than that.

My guitar teacher is a woman named Terre Roche. When Terre walked into the room on the first day of class, I felt like I knew her, but I couldn’t figure out why. Of course I did know her – I knew some of her most intimate thoughts and musical changes as one of the Roche sisters “once you get on you will never get off of the commuter train...

When: Wednesday, June 22, 12:30 P.M., City Hall Steps
What: Candidate for Public Advocate Andrew Rasiej announces his plan to create low-cost Wireless Access ( WIFI) for all New Yorkers.

Please join Andrew Rasiej and his supporters on the steps of City Hall as he describes his plan, when elected Public Advocate, to provide free or low-cost wifi access for anyone in New York. Participants are asked to arrive early if possible so as to clear security and to get signs and stickers.

Rasiej has said that one of his first moves as Public Advocate would be to follow Philadelphia and San Francisco in ensuring that New Yorkers have ready access to the internet via wifi. It will be interesting to hear how he plans to do this. Certainly, his initiative is essential to bridging the digital divide, as broadband access costs upward of 50 dollars a month for most residents.

Please come, even if only for a few minutes.
Trains: R, 6, W

I registered to write on this wonderfully relevant site as per the recommendation of my former teacher at C.U.N.Y., Micah Sifry. Among his myriad accomplishments, Micah co-founded the Personal Democracy Forum with Andrew Rasiej; Rasiej is now a candidate for Public Advocate of New York City. Micah is on leave from PDF to manage his campaign.

Rasiej has been in the news several times lately. Here is one Times brief, that got him all wrong. Rasiej does far more than organize conferences. This article, is a little more to the point but it doesn't go far enough.

On the last day of class, Micah requested that if I had any suggestions for the campaign, to send them along.

The suggestions usually come to me when I am in the thick of New York – either on the subway, on line somewhere, or waiting to cross a busy street that seems impassable with trucks lined up through the intersection, preventing walkers from getting across. I scrawl my notes into memo pads and then forget about them. Here are a couple of notes that keep getting re-scrawled and have thus stood the test of time ( about three weeks). I’ll post more here, as they emerge.

1. Supermarkets: No one – that is, no New Yorker who is not otherwise tangled up in politics, or political chat, knows what the Public Advocate is. So if Rasiej wants to get the votes of ordinary New Yorkers, he needs to go where they are – visit the sites where they spend time. These are not web sites, though I applaud Rasiej's goal to create free, public wifi in NYC. But right now, he needs to visit busy, crowded places in the hood. One place where every New Yorker spends time is the supermarket."

I can't understand how the token boooth clerk Tuesday night did not leave his plexiglass shelter to come to the aid of a woman being raped. He knew what was happening to her and even reported seeing her abudction. But he was afraid to break the rules in his employee manual - rules that forbid him from leaving his locked cave.

His union is praising him for calling an emergency number - a number that must make contact with three other sites before help is dispatched. His union also said that he acted properly.

Thank God some of the readers at the Gothamist, think differently although the posts devolved at times into union debates. Only a male dominated union would praise one of its own for following the rules, rather than acting to defend a woman as she was being raped.