City of Newburgh Makes History With Appointment

Four days have passed since the city of Newburgh’s Democratic Committee’s endorsement meeting was held and my heart is still very overwhelmed due to what I experienced on that evening. Truthfully, I have not been to one of those meetings in almost two years, but due to the fact that I was made aware that on that evening the committee would be making their endorsement for the city’s judge position, I felt that I should attend. Why? Because this was the first time that a woman of color was going to possibly be sitting in that seat for the next ten years. Wow! Recently city of Newburgh’s Mayor Harvey had appointed attorney Anika Mohammed to sit in the judgeship seat which has become vacant due to the retirement of Judge Peter Kulkin. In the upcoming November election the voters will be the ones to determine if she will be able to continue to sit in that seat for the next ten years.

Upon speaking with recently appointed Judge Anika Muhammad, she shared with me that she has always had the desire to help people. For the past 11 years she has been involved with the “Good Shepherds” church’s food kitchen located at 271 Broadway in our city for she never wanted to see people hungry. Her desire to become a lawyer was due to the fact that she has always wanted to help those whom she felt needed a professional analysis to their problems. She feels that even though judges sometimes usually have to send people to jail she will “Always” be fair and impartial and “Seriously” think about the “Alternatives” to incarceration. She interned at the Orange County DA’s office for about six months and then was hired and she worked there for three and one half years. She then opened her own private practice. Hopefully, for the next ten years we will have her wisdom and passion in our court, which by the way, was built upon the graves of many of our Black folk’s bodies. Wow!

This is the first time that a woman of color has been given the opportunity to sit in that position and hopefully it will give our young girls the desire to want to do likewise with their lives. She can most definitely understand what it’s like to be a youth of color and hopefully it will implant within their minds that if she was able to wind up where she is that they can hopefully do so also. Maybe not becoming a lawyer, but becoming whatever that will move their lives upward. That is the “major” reason why I could not understand how not but one of the African American women on that Democratic Committee voted for her. Wow!

Truthfully, that has been the profile of so many throughout the years. Envy and jealousy has always been the main divider of my people. So sad! What is it going to take to wake us up and realize that divided we will continously see divisions within our community which enables others to rise above us. We complain and complain but then when we have the opportunity to excel we halter due to jealousy. Wow!

What is it going to take to wake us as a people up? What is it going to take to make us realize that united we can stand but divided we will continously remain weak. Wake up! Truthfully, the real beauty of this past Democratic endorsement meeting was that many of the Caucasions on the committee voted for Judge Anika Mohammed and also did our Latino brethren. Wow! The two African American men, namely Philip Howard, the Vice President of the school board and Ray Harvey, the president of the NAACP voted for her also. So sad that city councilman Anthony Grice did not do so. Wow! I wonder why? Hopefully, he will be able to understand why he did not want to allow our city to have its first “Black” [female] judge. Oh well!

Let me end this with the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “The urgency of the hour calls for leaders of wise judgement and sound integrity. Leaders not in love with money but in love with justice; Leaders not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity; leaders who can subject their particular egos to the greatness of the cause. The New Testament admonishes us that the people cannot hear if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound. What is their hope if the trumpet makes no sound at all?”

It’s time for us to make a loud sound that will tear down these walls of indifference towards our problems. It’s time for us to organize and start marching towards ‘liberty and justice’ for all. We can do it if we commit to unity within our community.” As Dr. King said, “You know, whenever Pharoah wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. but whenever the slaves got together, something happened in Pharoah’s court, and he could not no longer hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves got together, that was the beginning of getting out of slavery.”

When are us “Black folks” in the city of Newburgh ever going to stand together? When? When? When?

Truthfully, I want to thank the Caucasion and Latino brethren for supporting Judge Anika Mohammed and most definitely Philip Howard and Ray Harvey. I hope and pray that it was the right decision to do so but only time will tell.

This is “Lillie’s Point of View” and I’m just having my say, now you can have yours. PEACE!

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