“It’s Gonna Take A Miracle!” Wow!

Taking into consideration what I’ve been experiencing in the past two weeks my heart is overwhelmed. I cannot believe what I’ve already known for many years, but it’s very painful to see the hard-cold reality of the past still being in existence today. Nothing has changed but the faces! I remember once hearing someone say that if you want to know what type of leadership that’s in a community, just take a walk through that community! What you see will tell you what type of leadership has been in existence throughout the years. Racism is not the only causative factor for the conditions that are in existence in the city of Newburgh. Leaders that were and still are only concerned about their individual selves are the major cause for the blight, the lack of jobs, crime and all of the other factors that are in existence that causes the quality of life to be so dreary for so many. The real serious question to be answered is \”has this city’s blight been deliberately allowed or did they just not know how to get things done?\” Which is it? There’s been a lot of selling out going on and our children have been the major ones affected by all of it. The so-called leaders have been continuously silent about everything and when someone does speak up they have been labeled as being \”Troublemakers!\”

Recently I stumbled upon \”Newburgh-A City of Great Unrealized Potential\” which is part of a study that was done about the city of Newburgh and I found myself to be quite amazed. Why? Because Newburgh’s potential has still not been realized. One of the parts of this study is entitled \”The Obliteration of Street Crime is the Most Important Key to Newburgh’s Renaissance. To this I say \”where there are no jobs in a community you’re going to have street crime.\” What has been done to bring decent-paying jobs into this city? Poverty breeds crime and until that issue is seriously addressed Newburgh will continue to go down-hill. Why is that issue so hard to be understood? Why has the so-called leadership in this community been so silent re: this major issue? Why is it that millions of dollars have been sent into this city to begin to seriously address these problems but the picture never changes? Sure, some people have reaped benefits from those millions of dollars but those that should have been the real benefactors never did. Why has the so-called leaders been so silent? It’s been this way for many years and truthfully it’s still in existence.

Newburgh is now presently on the verge of a so-called revival but that revival will not be beneficial to a majority of its residents. Why? Because the powers that be no longer want them to remain in this city. Why hasn’t the so-called leadership seriously addressed this problem? In Dr. Kings book \”Martin Luther King, Jr. On Leadership\” the 10th chapter is \”Teach & Preach.\” and that chapter ends with a quote that Dr. King made on June 11, 1967. \”We shall have to create leaders who embody virtues we can respect, who have moral and ethical principles we can applaud with an enthusiasm that enables us to rally support for them based on confidence and trust. We will have to demand high standards and give consistent, loyal support to those who merit it.\”

I must say that it’s going to take a miracle for the leadership in this community to warrant that type of respect. What I’ve seen in these past two weeks has literally blown my mind. The NAACP and The Ministers Association have been very complacent re: the upcoming school board election which has three seats up for grabs. They did not actively try to get candidates to run in this election which has left us with only one minority candidate which is Philip Howard. If Philip Howard doesn’t win in this election our children, which are 80% of the children in this school district, will not have a single voice on the Newburgh school board . Wow! Why have they been so silent? That’s an issue that needs to be seriously addressed. The NAACP’s first vice president, Chester Johnson had the audacity to ask Mr. Howard \”Why didn’t you come to us for support?\” Wow! By the time that this paper hits the streets the election will be over. All I can say is that it’s going to take a miracle for our children to have one voice on that school board that will be able to identify with them. Hopefully, in spite of the leadership’s inactivity, the many people out in the community that have risen up to make that possible will enable the children to still have a voice on the school board. Hopefully, Pamela Freeman-Resch will also have won, because even though she’s not a person of color, her heart is in the right place. It’s Gonna Take A Miracle, But With God All Things Are Possible! My prayers are going out to the family of Terence West, Jr. for their loss of their loved one.! Also, next week’s column will definitely be about the School to Prison Pipeline and the New York State Teacher’s Retirement System’s monies rumored to being funneled into the private prisons industry.

This is Lillie’s Point of View and I’m just having my say!