Celebrating Community
Natasha Campbell, the founder of Red Hook’s charter school, Summit Academy, spoke eloquently about the consequences of a well-publicized incident on Halloween that involved some local children. After a cellphone robbery allegedly took place in Carroll Gardens, five local teenagers were arrested and taken to the 76th Precinct. While two were immediately released, three of them, the youngest being 12, […]
The legacy of harsh punishment and imprisonment of black people gives context to the outrage over the hugging of convicted murderer Amber Guyger, by Judge Tammy Kemp. Amber Guyer is the Dallas police officer who entered Botham Jean’s apartment, one floor above her apartment, and shot and killed him, believing that he was an intruder in what she thought was […]
Twenty SPARK Prize finalists have been chosen among a pool of 150 applicants. Seventeen ae Brooklyn-based organizations, including three from Red Hook: Dance Theater Etcetera (DTE); Red Hook Initiative (RHI); and the Red Hook Community Justice Center (RHCJC). The SPARK Prize of $100,000 will be awarded to five of the chosen finalists from the Brooklyn Community Foundation (BCF). They have […]
On October 5, 2014, Howard “Tony” Sterling was murdered in Red Hook, Brooklyn. For the last two years, Bobby Boomer and Omar Gray were held in pretrial detention, only to be released this past August and September respectively. It was a Sunday morning when Sterling was fatally shot in his home. The murder of Sterling, who was known to some […]
Jaheim Smallwood, a 23-year-old resident of Red Hook, was fatally shot Tuesday, July 19 outside his home at 75 Bush Street. Smallwood was raised in the Red Hook Houses. He is survived by his mother, brother, and young son Jalyn, who was holding his father’s hand when the shooting occurred. Smallwood was attacked shortly after 8 pm after returning […]
Memories of gift shopping with my mother at McCory’s, as a young child of no more than seven, are the inspiration for this essay. Walking down the toy filled aisles, I was seduced by a M-16 toy machine gun, like the ones seen being used by soldiers in Vietnam War movies. I pleaded with my mother to buy it for […]
The first time I heard about “Night Out Against Crime,” back in the 1980’s I didn’t take it seriously at all. I really didn’t know what it was about, I thought it was some kind of feelgood event that did nothing to cut down on the rampant crime that was plaguing America’s cities. I left tonight’s celebration at Coffey Park […]
A gunman fired shots at a Gowanus iron shop on June 30th , wounding two before barricading himself inside a building and killing himself. According to local police, a report of gunfire came in at around 11:20am. The suspect opened fire at C&A Iron Works on 13th Street and Hamilton Place after allegedly looking for a job there. At approximately 11:17am […]