ON STADIUMS, IMMIGRANTS AND THE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS IN SOME AFRICAN COUNTRIES

This is what I wrote and read recently on New York's Pacifica Station, WBAI-FM. It was aired on the EVENING NEWS program, where I am a featured reporter. Listeners tuned-in heard the following:

"Have to say that it is rare for me to take a position on any issue publicly, as most of you know me as the cuy who chases cops and robbers here in the Big Apple. Besides, as a reporter I normally don't do commentary.

Yet, in looking at the sweetheart deals both the Yankees and the Mets are getting in building new stadiums, well here, I take exception.

First, I am a native of the Bronx.

Born in Morrisania Hospital in the early 1950's, I grew up for most of my childhood on Tinton Avenue. It is in the district known the world over as The South Bronx.

Baseball in the house I grew up in was pretty important, as most of my relatives were either Giant or Dodger fans. When both teams left for California in 1958, there was deep sadness in the Wallace household. My granddad was a rabid Dodger fan. Like many New Yorkers of his generation, he became a fan of, and rooted for those loveable losers, the Mets.

Now years later, The New York Metropolitans, along with the Bronx Bombers, are among the two richest teams in Baseball. Both teams want new stadiums, and will likely get them in the next five years.

Baseball is our country's national past time. It has been a game for everyone, especially the working class.

Season tickets, Box Seats, and parking, in the main, was the mode of choice and the exclusive preference of our mainly richer neighbors. Most people traveled by public transportation to see a game. The decision to go was made the day of the game. So-called 'walk-up' purchases was the order of the day. That is, until recently....

Now going to a Baseball game is guaranteed to dent your wallet. Just last week I joined an old boyhood buddy of mine named Dennis, to a Mets Game a few Sundays ago. Dennis brought along his son, Jason, and I brought along a recent convert to our great game, Carole, my companion, who hails from Australia.

We sat in the Right Field Level Boxes. Each seat costs 38 bucks. Parking cost my friend, Dennis, another fifteen. One thing that stands out in my mind is the cost of food, once inside. Four slices of pizza and two small cokes cost a whopping 30 bucks! That's more than three times the amount one would spend for the same food out on the street.

Dennis said it cost him an average of $130.00 bucks to attend a game at Shea Stadium. A pretty hefty price when one kicks-in game programs, pennants, team yearbooks, and the good old fashion peanuts and crackerjacks. It has all become prohibitively expensive to take a family of four to a Baseball game. Something that was not the case not-too-many years ago.

Now, on the subject of new stadiums....

What gets me is that the new facilities will be smaller than the current ball parks. The original House That Ruth Built, Yankee Stadium, sat upwards of 67 thousand fans. The re-modeled Yankee Stadium currently seats 56 thousand. Shea Stadium sits about the same number of seats, roughly 55 thousand. Why is it that both the Yanks and the Mets insist on building new stadiums that will each seat just 45 thousand fans, in a city of nearly nine million people?

Both teams drew well over two million fans last year, with the Yankees drawing a record four Million to the Bronx. Both teams are, again, the richest in all of Baseball, and serve the largest city in these United States. Why build a facility that seats less than what you've already got?

Will New York Baseball now become a sport that serves, and entertains just the wealthy? And what about those old Baseball stories that unites families over the generations? What does it it all mean, and what will it mean for generations of New Yorkers to come when trying to understand the meaning of civic pride, coming of age, and local sport myth?

Yankee Stadium is a rich and storied building in our city, and not just for Baseball. It remains the most significant arena in all of the Americas. Shea Stadium, too, had its moments. Both teams, and both buildings, whether one likes sport or not, help to define what a New Yorker is.

I have to say, while still a Baseball fan, and a son of this city, this reporter is not happy with the direction of American sport in general, and losing two buildings so much a part of who we are.

In the weeks, months, and years ahead, the momentum to tear down these two historic buildings will be felt, and will have as much impact on us, as when the old, beautiful, and grand, Pennsylvania Station was torn down in 1962.

That's my two cents.

I'm Eric Williams."

On the matter of Immigrants.......

In recent days of this posting, officials from the Homeland Security Agency raided a number of private firms scattered around the U.S. They arrested more than 1,100 people, and plan to deport them in the coming weeks. This action followed days of protests in recent weeks where literally millions of undocumented immigrants, and their supporters, had protested in numerous cities, including in the New York area, a slew of punitive immigration reform bills now before the U.S. Congress.

25 thousand People hit the streets of Newark, New Jersey on April 23rd protesting the arrests, and the debate still underway inside the so-called 'Beltway' in Washington.

The old Gil Scott-Heron Latin rythum influenced Song, 'ALIEN, says it all. That is, it tells the story of those seeking to have a better life, and leave the misery they left behind to get here. It is a story that many forget......

HOLD ON TO YOUR DREAMS!

Some words to the song 'Alien'

'Midnight near the border trying to cross the Rio Grande

running with cyotes where the streets are paved with gold

diving underwater when you hear the helicopters

knowing its all been less than worthless if you run into patrols

hiding in the shadows so scared that you want to scream

but you dare not make a sound if you want to hold onto your dreams

hold on!

It may not mean a lot ,

but you hold on!

because you know its all you got

not matter the consequences,

or the fear that grips your senses

You have got to hold onto your dreams

Chorus:

Hold on!

It may not be a lot.

Hold on!

'Cause you know that's all that you got.

Hold on!

No matter the consequences,

Or the fear that grips your senses

You have got to hold on to your dreams.'

Besides, immigrants, no matter how they got here, they help to make America stronger, and a better country in the long run. It is one of the reasons INTERNATIONAL ACCESS NETWORKS was formed. That is, to help explain the changing world around, and about us.

Now, here are some sobering words from two recent publications about folks on the African continent. Thanks to Neva Wartell for sharing this with us....

The East African Standard (Nairobi) NEWS April 10, 2006

By Eliud Miring'uh

Nairobi- A cultural festival attended by Maasai women from Kenya and Tanzania ended in Nairobi on Sunday with a call to the community to shun outdated practices. Hundreds of women delegates attending the two-day event, at the Bomas of Kenya, spoke in favour of educating girls and condemned marrying off underagegirls. The event was organised by Reto Women Association (RWA), a group founded in 1986 to bring together the Maa speaking communities of Kenya and Tanzania. Former president Daniel arap Moi appealed to the Maasai to embrace modernity for the survival of the community. The event also attracted prominent politicians including Narok North MP William ole Ntimama, Kajiado Central MP Joseph Nkaissery, House Speaker Francis ole Kaparo, veteran politician John Keen and former Cabinet minister Julius Sunkuli. Participants spoke of injustices committed against the Maa community including land alienation, insecurity, rape and land mines.

They also spoke of the need to educate girls. The RWA chairperson, Mrs Rachel Ntoyai, said time had come for the Maasai to abandon harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and, marrying off young girls to elderly men. Speaker Hellen Nkaissery paraded several girls who, she said, had abandoned school due to poverty. She asked well wishers to assist RWA finance education for the girls. Another speaker, Mrs Peris Tobiko, accused politicians of fuelling the land problem among the Maasai."This problem is political as leaders, especially in Kajiado District, are keen to displace the Maasai," she said.

Some Final words on significant passings....

On Thursday, April 20th, long time New York Newsday columnist, Dennis Duggan, died after a long illness. He was a man who 'owned the streets of the city of New York.' He told those often untold stories of people who help to shape the city. Think in terms of noted writers such as Pete Hamill, Les Payne, Ellis Henican, Juan Gonzales, Red Smith, Truman Capote, and Jimmy Breslin.

There are loads of celebrities who make New York City home, and who end-up in the news, or in the gossip columns of tabloid newspapers. What Dennis Duggan was interested in, primarily, were the views, and lives, of the so-called ordinary, or REAL New Yorker. The cabbie, the waiter or waitress, The loudmouth movie buff. The Christmas super, who comes around only at tip time. Also, the legendary 'man in the street,' whose opinions are solicited eagerly, and then promptly ignored. It was his 'New York Diary' that gave voice to characters, writes Ellis Henican, who had never been written about, but who give so much color to the city. He also took aim at elected officials both locally and on the national scene. One example from his first column back in January 17, 1983:

"Up until a few weeks ago, when he (New York Mayor Edward I. Koch) attacked the ethnics and even some "West Side ideologues" for opposing an incineration plant in Brooklyn, a shelter for the homeless in Harlem and a prison in Chinatown, Koch seemed to be walking under a cloud so dark that, in the words of the great Jazz pianist Earl (Fatha) Hines, "even his feet seemed sad."

It was that kind of focus, and view that grabbed the attention of millions of New Yorkers, and those not from this city, to look at issues twice.

Dennis Duggan wrote for such newspapers as the storied New York Herald Tribune, the Hearst-owned New York Daily Mirror, and later, the New York Times. In 1967, he joined Newsday, where he worked until his death.

I met Dennis Duggan in the 1990's when I first covered City Hall and, worked for WLIB-AM 1190, and it's sister station, WBLS-FM 107.5 Dennis was the guy who made me feel at home, and was not among those print reporters who look down their noses at those of us who work on the broadcast side of journalism.

He won a number of journalism awards, including the coveted Pulitzer Prize in 1992. He later became president of the oldest writers group in America, known as the Society of the Silurians. It is a prestigous group, and he invited me to join in 2004. Wow! Imagine that. Geeze! He said he wanted me to be a part of this group. So, I am now a proud member of that circle of authors, writers and journalists that includes among its past members noted writers like, James Baldwin, Ernest Hemmingway, William Faulkner, Truman Capote, and Maury Allen.

Check it out: www.silurians.com

I am going to miss Dennis Duggan. While not a close friend of his, I am lucky to have known him as one of many reporters I have met 'out in the trenches.' He was 78 years old.

On a personal note. While slowly recovering from the death of a professional colleague, the following day, more bad news. I learned that a close relative of mine, an uncle, had died, too, following a long illness. His name is:

Martin Joseph Brown

Martin Joseph Brown was born on June 9, 1921 in Baltimore, Maryland to Martin Joseph Brown Sr. and Mary Sample. After graduating from high school in 1938, at 17 years old, Martin told his parents that he wanted to see the world and asked for their permission to enlist in the Navy. For 13 years, he proudly served his country fighting in WWII and the Korean War.

Martin began another chapter of his life in 1944 when he met his wife-to-be, Isabelle Wallace. After meeting at a party, Martin fell in love and he and Isabelle married on September 10, 1944. After only four months of courting, the two entered into a marriage that blessed them with three children and lasted 61 years.

A loving husband and devoted father, Martin was often characterized by his friends and family as being a small man in stature but a giant in his ways. Never one to raise his voice or anger easily, Martin was always the source of reason that kept the family calm during times of angst. Even after completely losing his sight in 1970, he never complained or allowed his disability to deter him from taking care of his family.

Martin went home to be with the Lord on Friday, April 21, 2006 at 1:25 pm and is survived by his wife, Isabelle Brown; his three children, Charmaine Brown, Martin J. Brown Jr. and Carmen Wood; his eight grandchildren (six of which are living), Edward Jaundoo, Elyse Wood, Martin Brown, Nadira Brown, Mardi Brown, Frank Wood III, Christina Wood, and Joyetta Foster; his eight great-grandchildren, and a host of family and friends.

Have to say that before my uncle lost his sight, he was an avid listener of radio. It became even more so after 1970. Also, he and my aunt helped to raise me in the 1960's when my immediate family disintergrated. What they gave me was huge. In many ways he was like a father to me, and I will miss him greatly. He was, as the former NBC-TV News Anchorman Tom Brokaw wrote in his famous book, a part of 'the greatest generation.'

Don't want to leave here on such a sad note. But know this, both of these men would want us to move on, and to help make a better world for the next generation. Both believed that tomorrow will be better than today. For my uncle Martin, I dedicated my career in radio and television to him. Still do, even more so now.

Thanks for spending time here. Have a great week ahead. Catch you here again. Same time, same station!

All the best,

Eric K. Williams, Executive Director