Conrad Tillard IS Running For City Council

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Rev. Conrad Tillard IS Running for City Council:

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

This is part of an indepth interview conducted  with Rev. Conrad Tillard, newly declared candidate for Bedford Stuyvesant's 36 Councilmatic District.The interview took place at Peaches, Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, Wednesday, April 24, 2013.


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You might say that Conrad Tillard is following the time honored saying of "better late than not at all."  At least that's the word on the street from Brooklynites in Bed Stuy who thought they were facing a three way race for the soon to be vacated seat of Assemblyman turned City Council maven Al  Vann.  The race has now expanded to six since his entry into the fray.  

Al Vann has had the enviable position of living his life in service to his constituency, and now having done an extremely great job, is preparing to step down - though not necessarily walking off into the sunset just yet.   However, he is leaving some mighty big shoes to fill, and some great footsteps to follow  Foot steps Rev. Conrad Tillard feels he is more than capable and prepared to fill.  His opponents are none too happy about this "late entry into the fray."  

Comments/complaints of "why now?" can be heard all over. 
 
However according to the clergyman and  former Nation of Islam leader, the Minister Conrad Muhammad, of Harlem's Muhammad's Mosque No. 7:  "I watched and waited for the current candidates to come forth with platforms that would really speak to the needs of Brooklyn, Bedford Stuyvesant, education, and the youth.  But there was so much lacking until it was frustrating.  I have been attending all the meetings of relevance to issues that confront Bed Stuy, and they weren't there.  I stood in solidarity with people in the community whose children had been gunned down; who had been raped or robbed; I was at Boys and Girls High school for the hearings on the possible closing of the school.  They just weren't there, or any of the other several hundreds of meetings and events I've participated in over the past few years.  Where have they been, and what is it that they now bring that will really address the issues that face Brooklyn over the long haul?”

He continued with confident solemnity: “I searched my heart; I spoke with the Almighty, and I was told that if it was to get done, I would have to be the one to do it.  I could not wait for someone else to do the job that has yet to be done to make Bed Stuy whole.  And that's why I'm entering; and that's why I will win."

Anybody who knows his or her Bible knows it's not about when you enter, but why.  It's not about whose backing you politically; it's about who the people feel will really work for them; and who has their backs spiritually, mentally, physically and visibly. Conrad Tillard has consistently been that person.  Not just for the past three or four years; but for nearly three decades, since the 80's when he, as a college student, worked with the Reverend Jesse Jackson in his first campaign bid for the Presidency of the US.

"I've cut my teeth on the issues that drive our people, that matter to us most."  Subsequent to Rev. Jackson's defeat in his bid, Tillard signed up with the Nation of Islam, and quickly became the right hand for Min. Louis Farrakhan in helping to reach out to constituents in Central Harlem.  Later he formed an organization CHHANGE, that reached out to the Hip Hop Generation, and got them involved in being more responsible to their community via their votes and support for community organizations.

Not one to be pigeonholed, or put in a box of limitation, Rev. Conrad Tillard, has always put the people first, regardless of the opinions or consequences.  This has made him both popular - someone to be reckoned with - and at times, a target of his detractors.  Since his emphasis has always been on the people, communities, neighborhoods, where the people live, work, worship and play, you're more likely to find him out among the people, interacting, supporting, teaching and participating - whether it's fashionable or not, popular or not.  He is comfortable in his community, whether it's behind the pulpit, in an audience, on a picket line, a panel, dealing with rap and spoken word artists; mediating gang activities, or participating in children's program activities.   

When asked what some of his plans were for the future of Brooklyn's Bed Stuy community, he replied:
“I've been working with the communities of Brooklyn and Bed Stuy since coming to New York in 1989; when I first had my radio show on WBLS.  I am more than familiar with the issues confronting Brooklyn,” Wanting to be clear that he has garnered the educational creds to go along with the street credentials, he stated: “I really need to illustrate my educational background.  There are a generation of us who didn't join the nation of Islam from prison, but who were well educated.  I came out of college in Philadelphia; first worked with Rev. Jesse Jackson when he ran for President.  After that, I joined the Nation of Islam and worked as Minister Farrakhan's head of Muhammad's Mosque No. 7 in Harlem.  So we were on college campuses; we were heavy students; we were the crème of the crop; and we joined the nation.”

In fact, Tillard's dedication to the African American community is quite impressive, stemming from his days as an adolescent. He received his BA from the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, PA. In African American Studies in 1983, at a time when the colleges were all but phasing the department out. and worked with Rev. Jesse Jackson's bid for presidency through 1984. “I was one of the few African Americans studying our history during that time. It was deliberately being phased out of the schools as well as the colleges and the universities. This was before (Henry Louis) Gates and that crew came up with a different version of African American studies, and it was more acceptable – I was really doing the unadulterated research.” Additionally, Tillard posses an MA Divinity from Union Theological Seminary; a ThM from Princeton.” He also has his degree from Harvard Divinity School. Couple that with the 17 years of discipline under the Hon. Louis Farrakhan, and you've got a force to be reckoned with.

He states: “The beautiful thing about life is that I've had exposure to life at a lot of different levels – from the poorest of the poor, to the elite. There are not a lot of people, in terms of the human condition, that I cannot sit down and talk to. I have been in crack houses, in prisons, in populations – not in the waiting rooms, when I go I go into the populations. Gang meetings, but I've also sat down with the elite of society. I've sat in classrooms, I've sat in meetings; and so I really understand life in a broad way. All my life I've been involved in issues of importance and concern to African Americans. People ask how I'm going to attract white voters; I don't think white voters are any different than anyone else. They evaluate people's experience and credentials. And they just want to know that a person can serve. My experience allows me to engage people at every level of life.”

Rev. Tillard may have come “late to the game” by politically correct standards, and might not be part of the established "clubs" but he is just what the doctor ordered for the salvation of Brooklyn.  

One of the hottest topics in BedStuy is the threatened dismantling of Boys and Girls High School, something which Tillard strongly opposes, have recently hosted a hearing for the Education Department and the Bed Stuy Community as to why the current mayor should back off. “I would advocate for the end of mayoral control of our schools. To not give our children a quality education is sentencing them to poverty and jail and death. So it's a form of child abuse. And that's why I will use the bully pulpit. I'm going to get in trouble with some people in City Council, because I'm going tell parents, don't complain about teachers alone; it's a partnership. It's not a baby sitting service. You've got to work with the teachers to make sure your children get an education. My wife and I both work in Bed Stuy. My youngest son goes to school in Bed Stuy – little Barack -- and I spend a lot of time volunteering my time at Boys and Girls High School. The Bedford Academy, and the Community Stakeholders Board. Emma Jordan Simpson and Bryan Favors, and the community and I work together trying to improve the educational standards in District 16. And I am the number one fan of Boys and Girls High School Basketball team. Two years ago, when they won their first state championship, working with Congressman Ed Towns, I made sure that the families had a bus to go up there and celebrate the first state championship ever in the history of Boys and Girls High School. We took two buses up to Albany with the good help of Congressman Ed (Edolphus Towns, D. Brooklyn, US Congress, Ret'd) and I made that happen.” 

Tillard, likewise took a stand when Medgar Evers College faced the threat of dismantling under Pollard, after 20 years of successful progress under former Pres. Edison O. Jackson. He, along with the late, great activist Brother Jitu Weusi, Dr. Brenda Greene, Esmeralda Simmons and yours truly, were part of an ongoing coalition that early on identified the dangers of pollard and the super imposition of CUNY over Medgar Evers University.  He volunteered the use of his Church hall for necessary strategic meetings.

 He advises Brooklyn's voters, from those residents who have been there a life time to the newcomers to consider carefully the impact on the future of the community if they don't carefully scrutinize the candidates for this soon to be vacated seat. . To the youth who have not gotten involved because they don't see the relevance to their lives, he stated emphatically: “WE CAN'T BE GIANTS WITH GRASSHOPPER MENTALITIES! The person who succeeds Al Vann is of major pivotal importance to us all. Everyone takes their cue from that seat. We need visionary strong leadership. That's what I offer; that's who I am.”

Now that you know, what will you do?

Stay Blessed &

ECLECTICALLY BLACK

Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Update:CUNY Chancellor/MEC Pres Mock the Memory and Legacy of Medgar Wiley Evers: Attack on Center for NU Leadership and the MEC Black Think Tank

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson (originally published 3/07/2011)

I’m going to start this off with a quote from Dr. Divine Pryor. It’s so heavy I didn’t want to leave it to the end of this article:

“For the past seven years, The Center for NU Leadership on Urban Solutions has successfully created opportunities for people entangled in the law to access higher education as a way to transforming their lives. Our attempt to secure a multi-million dollar grant was only an effort to formalize what we have been doing informally over the past seven years. It’s unfortunate that President William Pollard and his administration could not appreciate the fact that members of the Center for NU Leadership are living, breathing examples of what is possible when an individual decides to transform their lives after making a mistake.

It’s ironic that we can be proud of the fact that New York City has one of the most effective garbage recycling systems in the world, but somehow President Pollard doesn’t believe that a human being can be recycled.” Dr. Divine Pryor, March 6, 2011

Now for those of you who have been following these issues, or who are embroiled in the task of saving the school, the Medgar Evers College situation continues “to get curioser and curioser” - to paraphrase Alice in Wonderland. Speaking of which, given the specious assertions and allegations on the part of CUNY’s legals, one has to wonder what they’re up to really.

It kind of pivots between “here we go again,” and “oh no! Not that stupid stuff again!” You can decide after I outline the facts.

Fact: Center for NU Leadership was founded by Dr. Divine Pryor and Eddie Ellis some 7 years ago to help those who had run afoul of the law, lead better lives by providing them with a college education, so that they could make a positive contribution to society and their communities.

Fact: Dr. Edison O. Jackson, then President of Medgar Evers College, in wanting to provide services to a broader range of the population in and around Brooklyn and the greater New York Area, invited Dr. Pryor to establish an office for the Center for NU Leadership, so that those previously incarcerated who were looking to change their lives could matriculate at Medgar Evers College. Additionally, they maintained an open door policy, so that applicants and participants could come in from the street and be assisted in obtaining the education needed to provide them with career strategies and goals.

Fact: Over the past 7 years Center for NU Leadership has successfully assisted over 200 applicants graduate from Medgar Evers and enter into such arenas as legislative offices, corrections, the court systems, district attorney’s offices and non-profit organizations.

Fact: For such a small staff that’s a major track record - particularly since they are still fully employed, and continuing to make positive contributions to the community, setting a positive example for the youth and peers with whom they interact.

Fact: President William Pollard doesn’t get it. His allegation that the program exposed the campus to criminal elements, which, by the way, has not been a problem in the entire 7 years they have been affiliated with the campus, is a sad indictment on a person who looks like us, has a similar pigmentation, but it all stops there - scratch that surface, and there is something completely different lurking underneath. Howard Johnson, who serves as provost, is equally culpable, as evidenced by his hostile and aggressive actions against Center for NU Leadership, the Bunche DuBois Center, faculty, staff, and students. But, in addition to his not getting it - is the even sadder (read sicker) fact that he apparently doesn’t care.

Fact: Chancellor Goldstein apparently really doesn’t care - about Pollard, about Medgar Evers College, about the Black students, about the Brooklyn Community. He is about the “my way or high way” approach. The only thing is that the strings are showing and the puppet and puppet master are both about to be caught up in them.

Fact: The eviction of Center for NU Leadership on Urban Solutions from Medgar Evers College was heinous and unconscionable. It was based on racism and stereotypes. It was an affront to the men and women who have worked diligently to turn their lives around. And an even greater affront to Dr. Pryor who has dedicated his time, talent, intelligence and energy to developing what the prisons systems could or would not do, a viable program that spoke (speaks) to the needs of those in our community who have been disenfranchised by a system that would rather criminalize them than provide them with the education they deserved.

Fact: The confiscation of the Center for New Leadership’s computers (which they owned outright), and the confiscation of their hard drive was not only egregious, but criminal on the part of CUNY and Medgar Evers College. It not only violates their rights as an organization, but there are certain intellectual property laws, copyright infringement, as well as other rights to privacy that have been trampled in this newest racist attempt to denigrate this organization.

Fact: The allegation of a criminal investigation being their cause for seizing Center for NU Leadership‘s property, as alleged by the legals of CUNY, has no basis in fact. Not only were there no presentations of warrants, or any of the other protocols that would precede a search and seizure procedure, there has never been any necessity for an investigation of any type until the fabrication on the part of MEC’s new administration.

Fact: There is so little regard for Black people on the part of the CUNY administration, that they apparently disrespected the Black elected officials who tried to meet with them to ameliorate the problem and bring, what they had hoped would be a positive solution to a problem that has now mushroomed out of proportion. One community leader stated very matter of factly: “White people having no regard for Black people is not new. We’ve lived with that all our lives. But to have a person who is supposed to be Black, participate in the dismantling of an institution that has been built by the efforts of a community dedicated to educating their youth, and providing them with a legacy, goes to very heart of self-hatred; and cannot be tolerated.”

Fact: State Supreme Court Judge Kramer, who presided over the hearing, Friday, March 4, 2011 in the Supreme Court in Brooklyn, could not believe that the legals of CUNY were refusing to return the hard drive from the Center for NU Leadership’s computers. (Judge Kramer had ordered Medgar Evers to return to NuLeadership computers that the administration had confiscated in
mid-December but that were purchased independently by the center).


Fact: Subsequent hearing date set for April 8, 2011, during which time the CUNY legals will try to make those allegations hold water. While we put nothing past their trying to justify their actions, and prove their allegations (given the nature of the individuals involved), through manufactured evidence, the fact still remains that there is not now, nor has there ever been any reason to seize the materials, equipment, supplies owned and operated by the Center for NU Leadership.

Fact: The Medgar Evers faculty issued a vote of no confidence in Pollard, stating he is betraying the mission of a college presumably dedicated to the academic needs of the urban poor and working class.

Fact: On March 8, 2011, the New York City Council is holding hearings on academic excellence and the necessity of cultural programs to round out the educational millieu. The hearings will be held at 250 Broadway, 14th Floor hearing room at 2:00PM. We are holding a press conference on the steps of City Hall at 1:00pm. Would like to have as many people from the community present as possible.

Fact: MEC/CUNY’s stupidity Brooklyn's loss and SUNY’s gain. SUNY has offered to house the Center for NU Leadership, blowing holes in the allegation that they presented a criminal element on the MEC campus. If there was so much danger, why would SUNY offer them a considerable increase in funding as well as space and support. What Goldstein, Pollard and Johnson have essentially done is deprived the Brooklyn community of an essential program that has provided services for the growing number of ex-offenders who are returning to the community. *(see press release below)
NB: While SUNY will be housing the program on their campus, that should not obviate the demand that a branch of the center be re-established at Medgar Evers with full staff and equipment, immediately, if not sooner. In fact, faculty, staff, programs that were in existence upon Pollard’s arrival, must be completely reinstated and MADE WHOLE, WITHOUT PREJUDICE.

Fact: Under the leadership of President Edison O. Jackson, Medgar Evers College had amassed some of the greatest minds in Black culture, politics, history and leadership, including former New York State Assemblyman Roger Green, Congressman Major Owens, Dr. Zulema Blair, Dr. Brenda M. Greene, Dr. Betty Shabazz (deceased), Ambassador Pursoo. It was a magnate for some of the greatest minds and leaders who frequented the campus affording the students an opportunity to be involved in leading edge issues and endeavors. The underhanded manner in which these and others have been treated has left a stain on the schools reputation as a center for higher learning and a magnate for genius.

Fact: Under the tyranny of Goldstein, Pollard and Johnson, more damage has been done to revert the campus back to pre-Jackson days when the school was floundering for an identity and direction.

Fact: If the Brooklyn Community, and the greater New York Community, the elected officials, and the students, parents, and faculty, don’t act immediately and take a stand for Medgar Evers College, the dream and goal of a COMMUNIVERSITY will have been destroyed, right along with so many other important programs and institutions we and our predecessors have fought long and hard to establish in the Black community. THAT MUST NOT HAPPEN.

Fact: My father used to say, “there’s nothing worse than an educated fool, or the person who knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing.” There is also nothing worse than a people or a community who will sit idly by and allow the educational and cultural future (and present) of their children to be trampled on, with out taking a stand.

QUESTION: NOW THAT YOU KNOW, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

Contact and support the MECCoalition@gmail.com

Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson

PS: I could not close this article without quoting someone else that Ive admired for a long time, Dr. Robert Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral in California. He always spoke about "Turning your scars into stars." And to me that is precisely what Dr. Divine Pryor has been doing with the Center for NU Leadership on Urban Solutions.

*IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS, I'M APPENDING IT TO THIS BLOG:

Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions Finds
New Home at SUNY Old Westbury College


Brooklyn, N.Y. – In a visionary move, SUNY Old Westbury College, under the leadership of its president Dr. Calvin O. Butts, has invited the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions to leave embattled Medgar Evers College (MEC), relocate its operation on the Long Island campus and open a SUNY satellite site in Brooklyn, thus allowing them to continue working there. The leadership of the Center concluded that as long as President William Pollard and Provost Howard Johnson are in charge of MEC, they will never provide a favorable work environment for them. Senior officials at SUNY Old Westbury say that NuLeadership has accepted their offer and submitted a detailed proposal which “is being given serious consideration.”
The invitation by SUNY Old Westbury allows the college to extend its reach into New York City, through Central Brooklyn, and to provide greater opportunities for its students to acquire internships, engage in community oriented research and have an urban office that serves as a direct pipeline for future enrollments. In addition to the invitation from SUNY, NuLeadership has received offers to work with one of the largest labor unions in the city and to further collaborate with a faith based academic institution. Both these offers are being considered as part of an integrated and comprehensive restructuring of their capacity building.
The move to SUNY comes on top of two outstanding Court victories for NuLeadership in its multi-count lawsuit against CUNY which is pending in Brooklyn Supreme Court. The suit challenges CUNY for their illegal attempt to evict the Center, invasion of the Center’s privacy, theft of their computers and confiscation of personal and intellectual property. In a stunning defeat for CUNY and Medgar, the Honorable Justice Herbert Kramer refused to grant their motion to dismiss the case. Instead, he granted the Center for NuLeadership, represented by attorney Ron McGuire, a temporary restraining order against the eviction, declared the seizure of their computers unconstitutional and ordered CUNY to show cause. The case is scheduled for additional hearing on April 8, 2011.
The Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions is headed by Dr. Divine Pryor, Eddie Ellis, Kyung Ji Rhee and Chino Hardin, who are all plaintiffs in the lawsuit. It is the first and only public policy, research, training, advocacy and academic Center in the country, conceived and operated by formerly incarcerated professionals. It was established ten years ago as an inter-disciplinary forum for scholars, policy makers, legal practitioners, law enforcement, civil society leaders, clergy and those previously incarcerated who are seeking to influence and impact urban contemporary social, economic and criminal justice issues. Its innovative policy and advocacy initiatives cover both adult and juvenile systems from a community level perspective.
According to Dr. Divine Pryor, executive director of the Center, “this move to SUNY is a major achievement. It is a natural evolution that allows us access to the state university system. Since our involvement with the criminal justice/punishment system is both national and statewide, our moving to SUNY Old Westbury greatly and further facilitates the work.”
The Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions will continue and expand its public policy development, lead the national debate regarding the need for a “nu-justice paradigm” in the adult and juvenile justice systems, and offer instructional services, counseling and support to the formerly incarcerated community in Brooklyn and throughout the state, with a special focus on those seeking higher education.
Eddie Ellis, co-founder of the Center for Nuleadership noted, “We have worked with SUNY Old Westbury’s President, Dr. Calvin Butts and Vice President Hakim Lucas, for many, many years. Their commitment to justice policy reform, system realignment and support for the social service work of our Center has deep roots and is a perfect fit. We are honored to accept their invitation. The possibilities before us are unlimited.”