By AMBER ALEXANDER
Flatbush Avenue is home to a cool cultural space dedicated to preserving and showcasing Caribbean heritage. The CaribBeing House, as it’s cleverly titled, is the brainchild of Shelley Worrell, a Trinidadian American and life-long resident of the neighborhood.
The space lies inside a red trailer situated in the Flatbush Caton Market, a place where local merchants in Flatbush have sold their goods for over a decade. While the market itself has multiple booths with vendors selling items such as West Indian jewelry, flags, food and skincare products, CaribBeing House has a more modern and artsty vibe.
To the right of a plank leading to the entrance is a square wooden sign that says “Be social.” Inside, a blue neon light that says “I am CaribBeing” hangs against the wooden wall. There is pop art with symbols that represent Caribbean and New York culture. There are also tote bags emblazoned with the CaribBeing logo and more art work for purchase and a giant sheet in the back for visitors to sign.
“I chose the Caton Market because it’s in the heart of the community,” Worrell said. “I see Flatbush as one of the most important cultural centers of the Caribbean and the Caton Market is a Caribbean market—it is situated right on Flatbush Avenue. “So, when the opportunity presented itself to us, we decided that we couldn’t turn it down.”
CaribBeing House offers the annual Flatbush Film Festival, art exhibitions, different types of cultural presentations, artist talks, dance performances, trunk shows. “The space is going to be constantly changing and we could even have a dinner party here if we wanted, so the whole concept is that the space will continue to evolve overtime,” said Worrell, who conceived of the organization in 1999 while studying at Brooklyn College.
Worrell was born three blocks from the market and has lived in Flatbush for most of her life. It was not too far away, at the library on Linden Boulevard, that the organization began to take shape.
“I think that’s another reason why I wanted to have a presence here,” she said. “We started CaribBeing at the Flatbush branch of the Brooklyn Public Library so, for me, this particular corner and this particular neighborhood has a lot of cultural significance but also, it’s very personally significant to me as well,” she said.
The name CaribBeing came to be when Worrell was an undergraduate. “It was like a play on words,” she said. “We didn’t have a definition back then. The definition actually just came about in the last six months as we’ve just gotten deeper into our work but it was just something that I thought about back then and I didn’t know what it would be. I didn’t know that it would become a viable non-profit organization.
As Brooklyn undergoes a transformation due to gentrification, ethnic communities such as Flatbush are changing rapidly. Worrell is confident that CaribBeing will continue to thrive.
“I think, right now, it’s about preservation and presentation of Caribbean cultural heritage as Brooklyn is changing very quickly,” she said. “I do see CaribBeing as one of those gatekeepers and preservers of our rich cultural heritage as well as our contributions to New York City and the United States.”
Photo: Shelley Worrell helps preserve Caribbean culture in Flatbush. (Amber Alexander Photo)
By ALEXANDRA SEMENOVA
The legal battle between national security interests and personal privacy escalated last Monday after the Justice Department appealed a Brooklyn federal court ruling that prosecutors do not have the legal authority to force Apple to retrieve information from a suspected Queens drug dealer’s iPhone.
Magistrate Judge James Orenstein ruled Feb. 29 that the 1789 All Writs Act is not enough to justify the FBI’s demand that Apple extract information from a smartphone owned by the accused Jun Feng.
In response, prosecutors filed legal arguments Monday that called the ruling “an unprecedented limitation” on the government’s authority. The brief alleged that Apple is not being asked to do anything it is has not previously done or anything it is not capable of doing. Apple has assisted the FBI in extracting information from its devices in 70 previous incidents, according to prosecutors.
In asking for the court to override the magistrate judge’s ruling, federal authorities argued again that the All Writs Act of 1789 validates their call for Apple to unlock the smartphone.
It is the duty of the manufacturer to assist in extracting information from the device, according to prosecutors.
The battle between Apple and the government began in mid-February when Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym of the federal court for the Central District of California compelled Apple to create software that would give the FBI a “master key” to unlock an encrypted iPhone 5C that was used by one of the killers in the ongoing case of the San Bernardino terrorist attacks in December.
Apple declined to voluntarily help in accessing the phone.
According to Apple, operating systems before IOS 8 allowed the company to assist in accessing information from a passcode-locked device without having to unlock the phone. The iPhone obtained from the attack runs on IOS 8 and cannot be accessed unless its encryption is removed, which Apple executives have said severely threatens data security.
In the New York case of Jun Feng, the iPhone ran on IOS 7, and it would only take Apple a few hours to retrieve data from the phone because the operating system would not have to be unlocked.
But Apple “demurred” from court orders to unlock the iPhone in the New York case as well because the government’s invocation of the All Writs Act is a threat to the digital privacy of the public, Apple executives said in a conference call Monday.
“Rather than asking for legislative action through Congress, the FBI is proposing an unprecedented use of the All Writs Act of 1789 to justify an expansion of its authority,” Apple CEO Timothy Cook said in an open letter last month.
“We are challenging the FBI’s demands with the deepest respect for American democracy and a love of our country,” Cook wrote. “We believe it would be in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications.”
Apple has rebutted federal prosecutors’ claims that its decryption demands are essential to fighting crime by asserting that developing a “backdoor” for FBI access creates a major security threat for iPhone users and interferes with public privacy altogether.
The government cannot hack the phone without risking the auto-erase feature and cannot involve a third party because it poses the same risk.
The rhetoric in the national debate between the FBI and Apple intensified Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles when federal authorities filed a motion seeking to compel Apple to assist the FBI in breaking into the iPhone, further invoking a debate over digital privacy rights and national security that is still in the works.
In the Brooklyn case, Orenstein wrote that he had to consider three factors in making his decision to authorize the motion to sustain the use of the All Writs Act in the case: the closeness of Apple’s relationship to the criminal conduct, the burden such an order would impose on the company, and whether it is necessary to impose that burden, according to court documents.
“I conclude that none of those factors justifies imposing on Apple the obligation to assist the government’s investigation against its will,” Orenstein wrote. “I therefore deny the motion.”
By UMMEY KARIM
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Barclays Center announced Thursday that a Taste NY bar will be set up at the arena to sell beer, wine and spirits from all over New York State.
Taste NY, which promotes New York State agriculture, would follow the arena’s existing Brooklyn Taste program, which offers the flavors of 55 Brooklyn restaurants, according to Brett Yormark, chief executive officer of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, which runs Barclays Center. “Taste NY is the perfect complement to our Brooklyn Taste program and furthers our commitment to sourcing from local producers,” he said.
Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Islanders, has drawn more than 6 million people to its events. “We will shine a spotlight on local food and beverage and New York’s wineries and distilleries and breweries,” said Howard Zemsky, president of the Empire State Development Corp. “This is now a $27 billion dollar business in New York State which has been exposed to 2 million people already.”
Assemb. Latrice Monique Walker, D-Brooklyn, said the Taste NY bar will help to revitalize the state’s agricultural industry by stimulating demand for homegrown products. “This will help mobilize the upstate economy by buying from people right next door,” she said.
Participating vendors include Neversink Spirits of Portchester, Bedell Cellars of Cutchogue, Orchard Hill Cider of New Hampton, the Bronx Brewery of the Bronx, Flagship Brewing of Staten Island, and Barrow’s Intense Ginger Liqueur, Brooklyn Wineries, Sixpoint Brewery, Red Hook Wineries, Van Brunt Stillhouse and NY Distilling Company Co., all of Brooklyn.
“It’s a great opportunity to reach consumers who don’t normally see our products,” said Daric Schlesselman of Van Brunt Stillhouse, which has participated with Taste NY previously.
“We’ve been a big supporter of them and they’ve been a big supporter of us,” said
Conor McCormack of Brooklyn Winery, who said his company had been part of Taste NY and wanted to become more involved.
Josh Quinn,the Brooklyn sales manager n for the Bronx Brewery, said this was their the company’s first time participating with Taste NY and that it would absolutely continue. “It reminds people in Brooklyn that the Bronx is not that far away,” he joked when asked what it means for the brand to be affiliated with Barclays Center.
Quinn said the Bronx Brewery is re-branding itself with a redesign of its cans, so “the time is perfect” to get more exposure for its products.
Taste NY will be rotating the vendors in the Taste NY Bar.
Photo: Participating vendors at the first Taste NY Bar. (Ummey Karim)
By REZA MALEK
Mayor Bill de Blasio has given New Yorkers a bit more information regarding his proposed Brooklyn-Queens streetcar but has still not said whether there would be free transfers to buses and subways.
“The center of gravity is shifting more and more to the outer boroughs, and particularly to our two most populous boroughs,” de Blasio said Tuesday in Red Hook. “So we’ve got to answer that with a new kind of transportation and a new way to connect everyone.”
The mayor has still yet to address one of the key points to the streetcar proposal: Will you be able to get a free transfer from the streetcar to an MTA bus or train?
De Blasio said his goal is to integrate the 16-mile Brooklyn-Queens waterfront streetcar line into the transit system with “maximum transfers.” But, he said, “We’ve got to work that through with the MTA. There’s a lot of moving parts there. We will have to figure out whether we’re creating our own independent approach to a card or whether we’re doing something integrated with the MTA.”
It’s a point that would “make or break” the deal for many New York commuters.
“I’d still stay away, especially because of the lack of transfers. I have to cross multiple boroughs daily so if I use the streetcars and it doesn’t necessarily stop where I need to, it’ll just be wasting money for nothing,” said Alexis Rivera, a 20-year-old student from Jamaica, Queens.
“I think it’s a great idea, but very poor timing, especially with the planning to start building by 2019. The next two years are going to be pretty rough on the city, especially with station closures for over a year,” Rivera added. “Starting another project on the side, especially when those same routes are going to be filled with shuttle buses, would only make travel more difficult.”
Photo: A vintage streetcar was pictured in the city’s report recommending a new streetcar line. (NYC.gov)
By BEVERLY ORTEGA
As I walked down Avenue J in Midwood toward the Tznius Princess shop, the women around me were dressed a lot differently than I was. Their skirts were below their knees, and some covered their hair with wigs.
As I approached the wedding dress store in this Orthodox Jewish enclave, I became more and more nervous. I hoped that I, a Latina from Queens, wasn’t offending anyone by walking in dressed with a pair of black jeans.
From the window display I could already tell that this wasn’t your average wedding dress store. The dresses had sleeves that covered the mannequin’s elbows; some even covered the mannequin’s wrists. They had beautiful detailing and extravagant ruffled skirts.
As I rang the doorbell, I was relieved to see a warm welcoming smile just behind the glass door.
When it comes to fashion, a religiously observant Jewish woman must evaluate her beliefs, morals, and values before deciding on how she should dress. The number of inches below the elbow or the knee, the cut, fabric and the colors will reflect how Jewish women balance religious and cultural factors with their sense of style.
The result is a thriving trade of stores in the Midwood section, an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood not far from where I attend school at Brooklyn College. Stores specialize in clothing tailored for the tastes of local women. This means they are filled with skirts that pass the knees, blouses made to cover women’s collar bones, and even head scarves and wigs that married women wear to cover their hair, according to Jewish law.
“There are different views in different Jewish groups as to the appropriate style of dress and the definition of modesty,” said Rabbi Elie Abadie of the Edmond J. Safra Synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. But, he said, there is one basic description of what is considered a modest way of dress.
Abadie said that is found in the Code of Jewish Law that Rabbi Joseph Karo wrote in the 16th century. “The sleeves have to reach to the elbow inclusively, the length of the dress has to reach the knees inclusively, the neck area has to cover the clavicular bone, and the dress cannot be see through or very shapely and tight fit,” he said.
Some ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups are a bit stricter and ask that women cover more of the body.
The reason so much emphasis is placed on the way a woman should dress is that Jewish law demands it, according to Abadie. He says that it “demonstrates the character of a woman” and that it suggests a woman is humble; dressing this way allows a woman to show respect and value for herself.
“In Judaism, women are not an object of desire, a toy or at the mercy of men’s passion. Therefore, they should not be used as sexual objects,” Abadie says.
But, even though modesty in a Jewish woman is praised, Abadie believes that a woman should not be considered less religious if she does not dress this modestly.
“A woman who does not dress very modestly may be a very pious woman in other areas, like in keeping kosher, respecting the Sabbath, keeping family purity laws, being charitable, taking care of the needy and poor, honesty and doer of acts of loving kindness,” says Abadie. Therefore religion should come from within.
Inez Sharaby, a 21-year-old college student and newlywed who lives in Brooklyn, considers herself a religious Jewish woman but feels that she doesn’t have to dress in long skirts and blouses that cover her collar bones and elbows in order to prove how religious she really is.
“I consider myself just as religious, since I pray, keep kosher, observe Shabbat and all the Jewish laws,” says Sharaby. Her religion is very important to her and she takes it very seriously.
“Being a good Jew means to observe the laws and be good to those around them, something you can do in a skirt or in pants,” Sharaby says. “I consider myself to be religious and I’m very spiritual when it comes to Judaism, I don’t think the fact that I wear pants and short sleeves puts me on a lower level than someone who doesn’t.”
But being a young woman in the Jewish faith and keeping up with such a dress code can be difficult sometimes. Even I, as young woman, seem to still be trying to figure out who I am and trying to learn as much as I can about my culture and religion. So I can only imagine the pressure these women have from those around them like their parents, rabbis, and even friends..
Abadie says that judgments do occur but, “It is usually limited to certain Jewish enclaves where modesty is considered a must and therefore, there are public signs and announcements, encouraging modesty.”
Jill Mamiye, a 16-year-old high school student from Ocean Township in New Jersey, seems to have found the balance between her religion and the way that she dresses. For Mamiye, “clothing that doesn’t draw attention and that doesn’t show off my body” is what she considers appropriate. But this wasn’t always the case.
“As a person who didn’t always dress modestly, I know what it’s like to be on the un-modest side. I value people based on their insides, and never the exterior,” Mamiye says. “No two people are on the same religious level. I think it’s important to grow spiritually on the inside, and then to perfect your exterior modesty.”
When Mamiye was younger, jeans, shorts, and blouses that didn’t necessarily cover her elbows and collar bone were what she wore on a day-to-day basis. But now, because Mamiye has decided to dress according to Jewish law, she wears skirts that must go below her knees and blouses that do not reveal her elbows or collar bone.
“Dressing modestly makes me appear more religious and makes me feel more religious too,” she said. “Modest dressing makes me feel like an individual. I approach the world as an intelligent woman. I want the world to value my individuality and my abilities, and not to see me as just another pretty body.”
Her decision to dress traditionally was important for her because her family values and encourages it. But there wasn’t any pressure for her to make this decision, she said. “My family is supportive of any type of dress. They are happy I chose to dress modestly because I am happy.” Mamiye said she feels the freedom to choose what style of dress is best for her and her beliefs.
She loves that her family is accepting of whatever choice she makes and also believes people shouldn’t judge others on how they dress. “It’s important that you value people not on the way they dress, but on the way they act,” Mamiye says.
There is not only judgment inside the Jewish community, but also outside. Many Jewish women have faced discrimination just because of the way they dress, they say.
“I have been judged by people of my culture and not of my culture because of the way I dress,” Mamiye said. “It is not easy to always dress modestly, especially when most of my friends do not. In order to deal with these situations I have to remember why I dress the way I do. Dressing modestly shows people that I’m more than a body.”
Although sometimes dressing the way she does causes Mamiye to be judged by others, she reminds herself that this is important to her and her beliefs.
Abadie says that although Jewish women are supposed to dress a certain way according to Jewish law, when entering public places, such as a gym, they must be aware, conscious, and respectful of the dress code of that institution.
Yosefa Jalal, an Orthodox Jewish woman from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, was barred from working out in a gym because of her long skirt. Her membership at Lucille Roberts was revoked when she refused to leave because of how she was dressed. She was asked to leave because her attired did not meet the gym dress code, and when she didn’t she was continually harassed, threatened with arrest and eventually had her membership revoked, according to the New York Post.
Such reactions sometimes lead Orthodox Jewish women to think twice about their attire.
“Some Jewish women may feel discriminated against due to their modest dress and they may change a bit their dressing because of such a discrimination,” Abadie says. “It is a shame that they have to do that and are not able to express themselves and their modesty.”
Unlike some Jewish women, Renee Beyda a 20-year-old Orthodox Jewish student from Brooklyn, said she is religiously observant but does not think twice about the way that she dresses. Beyda feels comfortable dressing in jeans and a t-shirt, but still considers herself religious and respects women who choose to dress traditionally. “I respect modestly dressed Jewish girls for the effort and strength they have while being able to dress that way, but I never wished I would dress more modestly,” she said. “I enjoy dressing with my own sense of style.”
She doesn’t regret her decision to dress the way that she does but like all fathers, hers feels that maybe she could dress a little more modestly. “But my father who is a little more religious than I am prefers I dress a little more covered up, but that just might be a father’s opinion as well.”
Although Beyda dresses in jeans and a t-shirt on a day-to-day basis, she respects the rules of dress when going to synagogue. “I go to a pretty religious Orthodox shul so when I go on holidays I follow the rules pretty strictly. I cover my knees, wear tights, and cover my elbows and collarbones too. I am still slightly judged by the other congregants but only because they cover more extremely whereas I cover just enough.”
Beyda says the other, more conservative women stare at her and she can tell they are whispering things to each other about the way that she is dressed.
As a single woman, I wondered if it was as hard for an Orthodox Jewish woman to find a husband as it is for any other woman. With religion being a big part of their lives and clothing important to their religion, I found myself questioning how the two affected each other.
Beyda said she isn’t worried that her style of dress will affect her prospects among the men in her community. “I don’t believe the way I dress affects how I find men,” she said. “I am not looking for a man who is ultra-religious. Therefore he wouldn’t care about how I would be dressed.”
Mamiye, who dresses traditionally in long skirts and shirts covering her elbows and collarbones, says that for her, finding a husband shouldn’t be hard. “A man should value a woman based on her personality, not her body. A modest woman is mysterious, and doesn’t show off her body in unnecessary ways,” she said. “This should be appealing to a man, who would know that his wife’s body is for him to see only.”
Finding a wedding dress that fits with the restrictions in Jewish law can be a little difficult.
While Sharaby doesn’t dress traditionally on a day-to-day basis, she knew what type of dress was considered proper and she was able to pick one out that was appropriate enough but could still feel beautiful and comfortable in her decision.
She told me the dress was strapless with a sweetheart neckline, with beautiful beading detail throughout the corset and a full princess tulle skirt. She did however tell me that, out of respect for her religion, she wore a cover up over her dress to cover her collarbones and elbows. The cover up was sheer with small beading details around the shoulders, elbows, and neck area.
Polina Ruderman, owner of the Tznius Princess wedding dress shop on Avenue J, says that her store is fit for any Jewish woman looking for her perfect dress.
An appropriate dress for a Jewish woman “covers the collar bone, covers elbows at least two to three inches, three to four inches below the knee, depending on how religious you are, and no see-through sleeves,” she told me.
Ruderman’s store was opened with Torah-observant Jewish women in mind. All of Ruderman’s dresses are custom-made, which means that a bride coming into her store has no problem finding a dress. She says she can make anything a bride envisions.
Ruderman was inspired to open this store because she felt that there weren’t many dress shops that catered to Orthodox Jewish women. Finding a wedding dress is tough for any woman, but with all the rules that observant Jewish women must follow, the process can seem much more difficult.
Ruderman helps ease this process. Although she does dress modestly, she says that she doesn’t mind when women who don’t share her outlook come in to shop, explaining, “Business is business.”
Photos: Top, Dress shops in Midwood help Orthodox Jewish women find attractive clothing in a traditional style. Below, Renee Beyda is dressed for a wedding. (Beverly Ortega)
By AMBER ALEXANDER
Samantha Lee, a nanny from Dominica, remembers a time when one of her former employers overstepped her boundaries by trying to drop children off at her home without permission.
“When I first came here and I started working as a nanny, she tried to bring kids over and I explained to her, ‘Oh no, am I going to get paid to take care of them?’ And she goes ‘Ohhh no, they are just staying over a little while,’ ” said Lee, who is in her mid-30s and lives in Brooklyn.
That lack of respect impressed on Lee the importance for domestic workers to speak up for themselves.
Now Lee is an officer in Domestic Workers United, which has organized 500 members — primarily women from the Caribbean, South Asia and Latin America — around the principle that nannies, housekeepers and caregivers for the elderly should know their rights and enforce them.
In an interview at the group’s office at 1000 Dean St. in Brooklyn, Lee and the two other officers of the group, chairwoman Patricia Francois, 50, and secretary Christine Lewis, opened up about their experiences as domestic workers. “It’s an industry where a lot of human beings are being exploited, being abused, being underpaid,” said Francois, a nanny from Trinidad. “You know, sometimes you don’t have a chance to go to the doctor to have a mammogram, to have a pap smear so it comes with struggles that are very challenging in the domestic working industry.”
Lewis, also a nanny from Trinidad and who declined to give her age, said that some immigrant domestic workers often get paid next to nothing for their hard work. They receive salaries as low as $5 an hour, making it difficult for them to make a decent living. “When I look at it, you get below minimum wage. People are still getting five-something or $6 an hour,” she said. The New York State minimum wage for 2015 is $8.75 an hour.
According to Tamara Mose, a sociology professor at Brooklyn College and author of “Raising Brooklyn: Nannies, Childcare, and Caribbeans Creating Community,” Caribbean nannies play an important role in New York City’s economy. Yet their contribution is often taken for granted, which reflects in their salaries. “What I mean by that is that there is a lot of middle-class families–even upper-middle-class families–who can’t necessarily afford childcare,” she said. “What these nannies provide is low-wage child care and consistent child care for the workforce essentially and what they’re able to do is allow these upper- and middle-class folks to work in the economy. Therefore they’re crucial to that entire system because they are actually allowing people to go and work.”
Lee, Francois, and Lewis are just three of many immigrant nannies from the Caribbean who live and work in New York City. One can easily spot the Carribbean-born nannies wandering the streets with white children in tow during the day–especially in middle- to upper-class communities such as Park Slope. Although these nannies may appear at ease, some of them face injustice on their jobs.
Mose said that the most startling fact about immigrant nannies is that “they thought they would be deported if their status was found out or if they organized in some fashion for their rights; some of them feared deportation.”
This is due to threats some immigrant nannies receive from their employers. Their customers “would even threaten you with immigration if you stand up for your rights,” Francois said. “They know you’re being exploited, they know you’re being underpaid, but the minute you stand up for your right, you’re being beat down, you’re being threatened, you know? So it’s really difficult.”
Nannies sense that they are looked down upon because their work is considered inferior or for the simple fact that they are immigrants of color.
One of the common injustices that immigrant nannies face is racism. A few years ago, it was reported that another domestic worker from Trinidad recalled being forced to read a racist nursery rhyme to the child she cared for even though she felt uncomfortable about it. Francois said that she too experienced racism in a dispute involving an aggressive father on the job.
“I was physically assaulted by my ex-employer. You know, I worked for them for six-and-a-half years; I was taking care of this little girl and I don’t know what side he woke up on or what kind of day he had but when he came home he wasn’t a pleasant person to relate to,” she recalled. That evening, he yelled at his child when Francois asked him to stop and he called her “a stupid black [expletive]… he cuff me down in my face… that happened in 2010…” Francois filed a lawsuit, which took three years, but she won the case.
Nannies don’t speak out about such incidents and thus, they are swept under the rug. However, Domestic Workers United encourages its members to be open about these experiences because, said Francois, “once they go into these buildings they are invisible, so we are automatically the invisible women you know? So, this is why Domestic Workers United is an organization we must have.”
Domestic Workers United, according to its official website, was founded in 2000 by a domestic workers organization for Filipina women as well as a domestic workers group for South Asian women. Through these groups’ monthly gatherings in Brooklyn, Caribbean nannies met, which led them to create Domestic Workers United.
“DWU is a movement of women, primarily women of color, and a domestic worker is a nanny and a caregiver; someone who cleans the house it is all the genre of domestic work right…even a nanny or a fancy word is governess,” Lewis said. She joined in 2001, after working as a nanny for wealthy families.
Francois joined a year after Lewis, saying, “I have been a member since 2002. I found a flyer in Central Park and when I picked up that flyer and read the contents–being an undocumented nanny–I realized this organization is a place where I should be a part of. Since then in 2002, when I went to my first meeting, I never looked back because when I got there I met a lot of different women from different cultures and different races.” Lee, on the other hand, arrived at DWU many years later in 2014. She joined after her mother, who is also a nanny, suggested she become a member.
Domestic Workers United serves as a judgment-free zone, a safe haven for immigrant nannies. It is a revolving door, since most of them don’t remain nannies forever. Some go on to pursue higher education or join other fields like nursing or open daycare centers.
A quarter of domestic workers make minimum wage, averaging a salary around $17,000 a year. Recent news reports say that one immigrant nanny from the Caribbean made $700 a month and another from South America allegedly made under $3 an hour.
These extremely low wages make it difficult for domestic workers to sustain a decent life for themselves as well as their children. The nanny industry is largely unregulated. Therefore, employers pay their workers as much as they want–or at least, as much as they feel they deserve because, “They have a saying that says ‘not real work’ you know,” said Francois. “But leave them with the kid alone. They will ask you, `How do you do it?’ ”
A common misconception about immigrant nannies is that they didn’t have careers prior to their domestic work. Lewis was actually a teacher in Trinidad before she arrived in the States. “None of us were domestic workers in our countries, none of us! We went to school and had professions–for me I was a literacy teacher,” she said. “We don’t know domestic work. I felt guilt, but it was a job. Nobody was paying my bill.” However, these women learn to get over these feelings for the sake of getting their jobs done.
“There’s no shame in the game, it’s a job… So yeah, they ask us to do the work and we do it with pride because, hear what, it puts food on our table,” Lewis said. “Some of us are single women; we are the sole breadwinners of our families. Hey, we have to do it.”
And sometimes it comes at a high price. Some domestic workers are so drained from taking care of other children that they have to find strength to raise their own children when they get home. Add that to spending money to support both their family in America as well as their family members abroad. To help alleviate this, nannies join forces to help one another. One method is a su su–a group system created to pool money together, a common practice in the West Indian community. The money is then used to assist the nannies with expenses such as American citizenship fees.
Another method is one that Domestic Workers United fought for to give immigrant nannies support. “We fought for the bill of rights, to put some teeth in it,” Lewis said, referring to a New York State law that was passed in 2010.
The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights is a set of standards for domestic workers. It requires that employers give them disability benefits, overtime pay, rest days, paid vacation, and more. It also provides protection against sexual or racial harassment. This law is especially important for nannies who start as young as 19 years old, and don’t necessarily know the seriousness of what they are getting into.
For those young women, Lewis has a word of advice. “Don’t start, go to school,” she said. “I would see young girls on the Upper West Side and ask them ‘Why are your parents letting you do this?’ I don’t understand it. But you know what, it’s a job.”
Even so, immigrant nannies have some great experiences. “Not all employers are bad people. I’ve had wonderful experiences working with people,” Lewis said. Lee and Francois agreed, saying that, in many cases, they adore the children they care for. When these children grow older, some of them keep in contact with the nannies to see how they are doing. They even take a piece of the West Indian culture they learned with them, including being familiar with dialects from the region.
As Lewis said, “Bridging of culture is a gift that you can give any child.”
Photos: Top, Patricia Francois at the Domestic Workers United office in Crown Heights. Center, Christine Lewis at Brooklyn Public Library’s Flatbush Branch, where Domestic Workers United holds meetings every third Saturday of the month. Below: Samantha Lee at library meeting. (Amber Alexander)
By DEJA SMITH
In her youth, Gianna Mancini used to enjoy sledding in the municipal parking lot at the Junction in Brooklyn’s Flatbush section. It was mostly empty then, and there were fewer people walking through the shopping district.
“I remember having to watch my back when I got off of the train,” said Mancini, 27, who has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years. “It’s a lot different now.”
Different not only because of the influx of different retailers and different types of people within the community, but primarily because of the opening of the Triangle Junction – a shopping center that was built over the parking lot where Mancini once sledded.
The area known as the Junction–the name stems from its history of being a transfer point for trolley lines–has seen dramatic changes over the past six years as more consumers travel there for their everyday shopping and dining needs. The Triangle Junction opened up in 2009, near the crossing of Flatbush and Nostrand avenues, housing what was then the largest Target in America. At a whopping 225,000 square feet, Target is undeniably the outlet’s anchor. Home Goods, The Children’s Place, David’s Bridal, Men’s Warehouse, Verizon, AT&T, Payless Shoe Source, and an Applebee’s moved in. Nike and Dallas BBQ opened nearby.
It’s a dramatic change for a shopping district that had previously been home mainly to fast-food and West Indian takeout restaurants, bodegas, discount stores and greengrocers.
The mall draws heavy foot traffic since the Junction is the last stop on two of Brooklyn’s most traveled subway lines, the 2 and the 5. Bus lines converge there, bringing passengers from southern Brooklyn neighborhoods that don’t have subway service. The Junction is also a block away from Brooklyn College, which has 16,000 students.
Yet, with the introduction of larger chain restaurants and stores, residents fear that an area that they once called home will soon be unrecognizable.
“The area is becoming really gentrified. I’ve lived here almost all of my life and it’s amazing to see the changes just within the last few years,” Mancini said.
Many residents fear that the changes will resemble those which took place downtown with the construction of the Barclays Center, which opened in 2012.
Fatima Walden, 25, has been a lifelong resident of Brooklyn, and had a lot to say about gentrification. “Downtown they ripped apart apartment buildings, they put hundreds of people out of their homes and promised them jobs that they never received,” she said. “I can see that happening in the Flatbush Junction area.”
Flatbush residents have already seen rents go up sharply in the Midwood and Ditmas Park sections.
“We saw it happen downtown,” Mancini said, referring to the Atlantic Yards development that began with the Barclays Center. “They offered people money for their apartment once, maybe even twice, but by the third time they were offered crumbs, if anything at all. And by that time there was a new owner in place who had the power to move people out, against their will.”
At a November meeting of Community Board 14, which encompasses the Junction, concerns were expressed about apartment buildings potentially being built, with rents that would price out current residents. “The only way I would allow more apartment buildings to be built [in the area] is if I can ensure that my daughter would be able to afford it,” one resident said.
Residents were also concerned about the design of some of these apartment buildings for fear that they would potentially “clash” with some of the more historic Victorian homes in the area.
New Stores and Services
After 4 p.m. on a weekday you will see hundreds of people streaming the streets at the Junction: workers coming off the subway; adolescents and young adults coming from school. It is an opportunity for retailers to capitalize on.
New Stores and Services
“Applebee’s is a good place to meet new people, because it’s such a busy place,” said Nikyra Singleton, 22, a senior at Brooklyn College. “I like Applebee’s for their cheap drinks. I go there every Tuesday after class.” Applebee’s, which doubles as a restaurant and sports bar, has many deals and specials to draw customers, including weekday happy hour that offers half-price drinks and appetizers.
But although she enjoys the new businesses at the Junction, Singleton had reservations.
“I really feel like Brooklyn is trying to be down, they are doing too much,” Singleton said.“My father grew up over here, this is his ‘’hood,’ and I feel like they are taking away from people’s lifestyles, and changing it.”
A Flatbush Junction Business Improvement District was created to assist the development, and there is a bustle on the streets that was not there before. Kenneth Mbonu, executive director of Flatbush Business Improvement District since this past March and a Bedford-Stuyvesant resident, said his role “is to improve the quality of life of the businesses and the residents who support the business. Bottom line.”
In October, the Flatbush BID threw an event to help introduce the residents of the area to owners and workers at the various restaurants and stores located at the Junction. About 100 residents and students turned out to the event on Nostrand Avenue, near the Dallas BBQ.
It seemed that the residents were in high spirits about the whole thing.
“The BBQ’s here and it attracts a lot of customers . . . I think it’s [a] more positive change because at first nobody really wanted to be outside like that,” said Myrella Murray, 27, who attended the event. “Now my friends who live in other areas in Brooklyn call me to come out and have drinks at the Junction.” Murray also remarked that even in the year that she has lived in Flatbush, she has noticed a lot of changes and a lot of new stores coming in.
Anna Sosa, a freelance independent contractor who works as the BID’s event planner and was formerly known as its merchandiser in residence, said this was the second event that she has done with the Flatbush Junction BID.
Sosa, who has over nine years’ experience in corporate merchandising and event planning, expressed concerns and hopes for the future of the Junction.
“I really enjoy touching base with the community,” said Sosa as she also noted that her primary goal is to help the smaller businesses to grow and develop because they “really need more attention in order to ensure their sustainability.”
Many businesses get introduced to the area, but according to a few long-time employees at the Junction, not many of them stay.
Fortunately this is not the case for Erin Santoli, 39, who has worked as a salesperson serving customers at Lord’s Bakery for the past decade.
“Business is good,” Santoli said. “This is a really busy time of the year for us because of the holidays; our most famous cake is red velvet. It’s everyone’s favorite; we make it the best and we also make it the cheapest.”
Lord’s Bakery is a family-owned bakery which has been serving sweets at the Junction for over 40 years.
Santoli said rents increased at the Junction and that businesses come and go frequently. “Things change so quickly here, it’s sad, the rent has gone through the roof” for other business in the Junction, she said.
Santoli expressed no worries about Lord’s business, saying it has loyal customers who have been coming to the bakery for decades. And a key factor is that the owner of the bakery owns its building. ”He’s not going anywhere,” said Santoli, who grew up in the area.
Right outside of Lord’s Bakery, on any given weekday is Mohammed Rashid stationed with his fruit cart. Rashid, 58, has been selling fruit at that location since 2006. “The buildings change, everything changed, everything grow up,” Rashid said of the Junction.
Rashid, who migrated to New York City from Bangladesh in 2001, started working for another fruit cart owner and now has his own. Rashid formerly had his fruit cart business in Manhattan, but decided to move his cart to Flatbush, because it was much closer to his home on Coney Island Avenue.What used to be two hours of commuting every day in his van is now a 10-minute drive, and he says he is sustaining his family-he has a wife and two sons–even better than he did in Manhattan.
“Flatbush is good for me,” he said.
Anthony Bellay, 63, has been at ABC Liquors since he was 19 years old. The store has been on Flatbush Avenue since the 1940s, making it one of the oldest businesses at the Junction. Bellay has seen many changes at the Junction in the more than 40 years he has worked there. The population was once primarily white, especially of Irish and Italian origin, he said. After that, there was an influx of West Indian people. And now, according to Bellay, “it’s changing again.”
Bellay also saw a plus in the Brooklyn College Residence Hall at Kenilworth Place near the Junction. It opened in 2010 and houses students who attend the college. This brought new faces in the area, Bellay said/ He notices how Brooklyn College is expanding and, according to him, “the neighborhood is better.”
By JHERELLE BENN
The president of Brooklyn began the morning in a pair of swim trunks.
Eric Adams was in the pool at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights to advocate safe swimming. His schedule for Sunday, Oct. 18 led him into a pair of sneakers as he joined hundreds of young athletes in a march across the Brooklyn Bridge calling for greater access to safe spaces for youth sports. He went to a community cookout where he wore a polo shirt and his signature smile. There was another change of clothing for an emergency hospital visit to encourage a dear friend fighting for his life and then a funeral to give a proclamation, honoring someone who had lost hers.
It is for this reason, he said, that he keeps a suit and tie with casual pants in the car just in case he needs to speak on a last-minute panel or give a keynote speech at one of the many events happening in the busy borough of Brooklyn.
Adams, the first African-American to become Brooklyn borough president, is a man of many outfits. “My day is really defined in the attire. The constant switching of attire to fit where I’m going and what I’m going to do,” he said. “And that diverse attire is reflective of the diverse information I need to know and how I need to be present in the moment to speak to the people that I’m speaking with.”
Adams has become a genial and popular spokesman for Brooklyn, but no change of clothing can help him he walk the difficult line between encouraging the development that is reshaping Brooklyn – as his talkative predecessor Marty Markowitz did – and addressing the fear of gentrification that resounds among the black constituents whose support launched him to higher office.
Earlier this month the Brooklyn Borough Board joined boards in Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan in voting against Mayor Bill de Blasio’s rezoning plans, which would allow higher-density development in many neighborhoods to encourage construction of affordable housing. Opponents say the housing envisioned under the plan say it isn’t really affordable and that it would contribute to the displacement that gentrification causes. Comptroller Scott Stringer issued a report asserting that the rezoning plan could displace as many as 50,000 residents of East New York.
“By voting with our recommendations today, we’re saying ‘No’ to the city plan,” Adams said at the Brooklyn Borough Board meeting on Dec. 1.
Adams sounded more pro-development in an interview with the Commercial Observer in March.
“I think that East New York and Brownsville really offer some gems, if we just go and develop there. If we [met] infrastructure needs, we would see a great deal of development,” he said.
Last year he released a report that targeted East New York, Broadway Junction, and Coney Island for development of affordable housing. The report recommended that 600 affordable housing units be built in the Broadway Junction area alone.
A First for African Americans
Ron Howell, a journalism professor at Brooklyn College who has written extensively on African Americans in Brooklyn politics, said that Adamsput his name in the history book of Brooklyn when he was elected borough president.”
Howell is the grandson of Brooklyn’s first black elected official, Bertram L. Baker, who won a seat in the Assembly in 1948 and was recognized as the borough’s black political boss.
“For 30 years, black activists had been trying to get a black person elected to that office,” said Howell.
Last year Howell organized a panel at Brooklyn College to discuss gentrification in Bedford-Stuyvesant. At this panel Alicia Boyd, founder of The Movement to Protect the People, spoke out against black elected officials, including the borough president. She said the black politicians weren’t protecting black residents from being driven out of their neighborhoods by the rising rents that gentrification is causing.
“We got a black borough president. They put him there so he can sell out the black community all throughout Brooklyn,” Boyd said. “We need to start demanding better for ourselves.”
As is the case for many of the city’s elected officials, Adams’ campaign fund relies heavily on real estate donors. The Commercial Observer reported that, “Those associated with the real estate industry made up more of Mr. Adams’ campaign donations of any other industry.” Shortly after becoming borough president Adams hired Anthony Lolli, a real estate executive, to be his adviser.
Responding to questions raised about his loyalty to his black constituents, Adams says his diverse experience is what qualifies and prepares him to serve as president of such a diverse borough.
Bold and Outspoken
Adams was born in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn on September 1, 1960. He was one of six children and as a boy, death and poverty were a part of everyday life. “It’s amazing how you could become so accustom to violence and conditions,” Adams said. He remembers making a game out of guessing who was shot the night before. The rodents were their “little pets and toys and projects.” He was in the third grade when his family moved to Jamaica, Queens, where he had a life-changing run-in with the police.
As Adams recounted in an article he wrote for The New York Times last year, he was beaten by police officers when he was 15. He was arrested for minor crimes that night and taken to the basement of the 103rd Precinct where he endured repeated kicks to the groin. “Out of every part of my body, that’s what they targeted,” Adams wrote. He urinated blood for seven days after that.
It was an attack on his manhood, his pride and, he said, the color of his skin. Adams kept the secret with him, staying silent about the incident until adulthood but the experience had started a fire in him. “I didn’t want any more children to go through what I endured, so I sought to make change from the inside by joining the Police Department.”
Before becoming a politician Adams served in the Police Department for 22 years. As an officer, he noticed that the people he arrested were getting younger and younger. He could see that city agencies were failing urban youth. The stop-and-frisk policy was particularly upsetting to Adams. “It was that policy that millions of young people were being stopped and searched and frisked, degraded, demoralized, and negatively impacted,” Adams said. “It’s horrific to be stopped by this symbol of authority when you did nothing wrong at all. It makes you feel as though you are illegal just based on your existence.”
In 1995 Adams co-founded 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care along with other African-American law enforcement officers. They sought to make sure fair policing was being practiced. According to Adams, “We wanted to be the conscience of policing.”
The group’s outspokenness encouraged the Vulcan Society, an association made up of African-American firefighters, to push harder for blacks to be hired in the Fire Department, according to Paul Washington, former president of the society.
Washington said he mimicked Adams’ example with 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care. “They were just like us,” he said. He was inspired by the way Adams used the media and followed with a similar strategy to bring attention to discriminatory hiring practices within the Fire Department.
The Vulcan Society won a lawsuit against the Fire Department, with a federal judge naming a monitor to oversee a new entrance exam and other hiring practices in the agency.
Adams continued working his way up the ranks, becoming a police captain. He was elected to the State Senate in 2006. His district includes Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, South Slope, and Sunset Park. As a New York state senator Adams tackled issues such as the stop-and-frisk policy, illegal guns, and marriage equality (which he voted in favor of).
As a legislator Adams was bold and outspoken. Back in 2012 he joined a group of senators and Assembly members who wore hoodies to the legislative chambers to protest of the death of Travyon Martin, a black teen shot to death by a neighborhood watchman in Florida.
“I have a son; he looks like Trayvon,” Adams said during the demonstration.
Professor Moses Davies, who teaches a black political identity course at Brooklyn College, said of Adams that “in terms of being vocal about black issues, not many black politicians are that vocal.”
He added, “Because they are politicians, most of them try to play it safe. They don’t want anything to have to do with creating controversy and most of them are looking to advance.”
But Adams took his spot on a new stage when he was elected borough president a year later in 2013; his constituency was borough-wide, not from a heavily minority section of the borough.
As a result, he has faced much criticism for his positions on development. His answer is that the diversity of this borough is what’s important.
According to Adams, “Each change of attire also comes with a change of approach and knowledge of the people I’m communicating with.
“Diverse clothing for a diverse borough with diverse issues.”
By KECIAH BAILEY
On a cold and windy Friday night in Brooklyn, about 140 18-to 35-year-olds piled into Christian Cultural Center’s young adult lecture hall to hear their pastor speak. The dimly lit room, styled similarly to a lounge with stadium-like seating, was ablaze with chatter.
On stage a live band played electrifying gospel sounds and the large flat screen monitors surrounding the room showed images of young teens doing different styles of dance ranging from fraternity-style stepping to breakdancing. The message emblazoned on the wall: “Be intentional about how you will influence the world by making lasting decisions every chance you get.”
Pastor A.R. Bernard, founder of the East New York megachurch had gathered some of the millennials in his congregation to engage them in an open forum session titled “Real Talk – Millennials of Faith.” It was a meeting that, perhaps by chance, coincides with the release of the Pew Research Center’s latest statistics on the changing religious landscape in America that show that an increasing portion of the U.S. population is moving away from organized religion and now identifying as religious “none.” According to the findings, millennials are driving the growth of this group.
“It is said that millennials are more accepting of the social changes in society. Is this also true of millennials of faith?” Bernard asked the group.
“I don’t force my beliefs on anyone,” one young woman in the audience responded. “I live out my life according to the Bible, but I don’t go around preaching to people or pushing the Bible in their face or telling them their lifestyle is wrong.” Bernard nodded slowly as if contemplating her response.
The group spent the next 90 minutes discussing a wide range of issues from racism to transsexuality and the struggle to maintain a Christian identity in an increasingly secular society.
“More and more, millennials are making the distinction between being spiritual and being religious,” Bernard said. “What they’re saying is they are divorcing themselves from organized religion and the institution of the church but they still want to think they have a relationship with God.”
The religious “nones,” as the Pew Research Center labels them, includes both the “spiritual but religious” as well as those who self-identify as atheists and agnostics.
While there are a number of reasons as to why the “nones” are growing, the authors of the center’s report say generational replacement plays a significant role. This is evident in the steady decline in the number of people who identify religion as important to their lives as the each new generation emerges. According to the Pew’s findings, two-thirds of adults in the generation born in the mid 1920s to early 1940s say religion is very important to them and they pray every day as opposed to 6 in 10 Baby Boomers and 5 in 10 Generation Xers.
The millennials show far lower rates of religious involvement with just about four in ten saying religion is important to them. Seven in 10 of the youngest millennials born between 1990 and 1996 with no religious affiliation say religion is not important to them and 42 percent of them say they do not believe in God at all.
Cornelius Sullivan, professor of sociology of religion at Brooklyn College, said he believes there are societal factors that are promoting this attitude.
“Science and our understanding of the universe and the evolution of man create a great deal of doubt in the minds of those who were brought up strictly religious,” Sullivan said. “Then there is the issue of the recent religious violence and conflicts that are causing millennials to question the idea of God.”
Citing societal reasons for his departure from church, Elston Wilson, 30, a college student majoring in accounting, said he grew up in a black Pentecostal church in Brooklyn and attended several times a week with his mother until his late teens. However, upon reaching adulthood, he began to question what he was taught about God.
“There’s ISIS killing people in the name of God, all these racist killings and the Bible promotes slavery, I just don’t know,” Wilson said. “I believe in something. Creation tells me there is a Supreme Being behind it. I just don’t know what to call him.”
Brooklyn College social psychology Professor Curtis Hardin said religious identity is usually bound up in parental relationships and so people are generally more committed to religion to the degree that their parents share that same religious experience and is usually stronger depending on how attached they are to their parents.
“Over the generations, as science and culture have peeled people away from traditional religious faith, there are fewer and fewer traditionally religious parents with whom to share religious experience,” Hardin said. “Put another way, there are more and more non-religious parents who not only do not teach or require children to be religious but who model, reward, and share non-religious views of the world with their children.”
The Pew findings have consistently shown that generations usually become less religious as time goes by and this could mean America is moving toward becoming a more secular society. According to the numbers, the proportions of “nones” who say they do not believe in God has grown significantly. One-third of young adults who previously claimed to be spiritual but not religious now say they do not believe in God, an 11 percent point increase since 2007.
“To me it’s actually more surprising that America’s generational turn away from religion has happened so slowly,” Hardin said. “The U.S. is virtually unique when it comes to religiosity in comparison to other fully developed countries around the globe. Other developed societies outside the Muslim world are vastly more secular and less religious than Americans.”
But Sullivan said this does not necessarily mean religion is weakening
in America. “The “nones” are a very mixed and moveable group in that some who do not affiliate now will affiliate later in their lifetime as they grow older, get married and have children.”
Recognizing the shift from religion, Bernard told his group he is dedicated to creating stronger millennials of faith, who have a strong sense of identity and purpose and who will not run away from their faith when challenged.
One of the ways he plans to accomplish this, he announced, is to convert one of the lecture halls into a black box theater, which will create a space for the young adults to hang out and have fun safely on the weekends.
The group cheered wildly.
“Millennials have flipped the script,” Bernard said. “In previous generations, church meant you fit into it – but now millennials want to know, how does church fit them?”
By JHERELLE BENN
Laverne Washington browses carefully through the aisles of a variety store located on Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn. He gazes at natural potions, tonics, incense, afro-centric clothing and educational books. After speaking briefly with a sales associate he leaves with his purchase, Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Soap.
Washington and his family, who live on DeKalb Avenue, are no strangers to Nicholas Brooklyn Variety Store, having shopped there for almost a decade. In the past he has celebrated with Nicholas Brooklyn when his daughter, a published author, used the venue for her book signing event.
But now the store is relocating from its home at 570 Fulton St. near Rockwell Place, one more business moving on because of the rising rents that have accompanied the redevelopment of the downtown area and construction of the Barclays Center. Stores like Nicholas Brooklyn Variety play an important role in the neighborhood’s culture, but they’ve had difficulty hanging on to their prime location.
“This is our favorite store. It’s a shame that you all would have to relocate when Brooklyn is getting repopulated,” Washington said before leaving the store. “It’s a shame, it’s a shame.”
Monique Benjamin, who runs the store, said there is little choice. “Basically ever since they put up the Barclays Center that’s when people really started to notice the change in the area,” she said.
The $4 billion Atlantic Yards Project included the massive basketball arena, Barclays Center, and also promised market rate and affordable housing that has yet to be built. As a response to developer Bruce Ratner’s plans, a coalition of over 51 community organizations came together in opposition to create Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn.
Sandra Bell, a Dean Street homeowner who joined the coalition, said she has seen the changes affect residents and business owners with her own eyes. “I get letters everyday to sell this house,” said Bell. After fighting against the changes to the neighborhood that were causing her friends and neighbors to slowly be pushed out after the Barclays Center was built, Bell remains one of the last black homeowners on the block.
“There are no provisions for the mom and pop businesses,” Bell added.
Many public officials supported the project and welcomed the change. Former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz called Atlantic Yards “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create the center of urban life that Brooklyn has long deserved, adding important amenities to the Downtown Brooklyn area.”
The supporters of Nicholas Brooklyn believe they have already found a “center for urban life” in such stores.
Sales associate Paris Williams, who has worked at Nicholas Brooklyn for three years, said her job at the store gave her the money she needed to support herself while maturing as an artist. “It’s sad but we have to be willing to adapt and change,” said Paris. “Yes Brooklyn is changing but guess what? If we are really Brooklyn heads we could be able to adapt anywhere that we go and still be able to pick up business.”
Nicholas Variety Store has been around since 1974 when founder Randolph Nicholas started making deliveries from the trunk of his car. He built connections and acquired a physical location in the Union Square area of Manhattan, where the store survived for 20 years – then he relocated to Harlem on 125th Street and Fifth Avenue, and eventually added a second location Downtown Brooklyn in 2006.
Nicholas’ daughter, Monique Benjamin, followed in her father’s footsteps by running the Brooklyn location and transforming the store into what she calls “a place that changes people.” Providing jobs, giving opportunities to artists to showcase their talents, hosting community events, providing quality products and giving back to the people are all the ways Nicholas sets itself apart from big corporations and the chain stores that line Fulton Street.
The building in which Nicholas is housed was purchased by developers Slate Property Group, Meadow partners, and an unknown third party for $23 million, according to The Real Deal, a New York real estate new site. The loss of Nicholas and other family-owned businesses affects more than just the flow of economy. “Everything will be very commercial. Everything is being affected by it,” said Benjamin.
The store has found another home at Restoration Plaza in Bedford-Stuyvesant where it will be locked in for 10 years. The official move is set to take place before the end of the year.
The building where Nicholas Brooklyn Variety Store is currently housed will most likely be turned into luxury condos by 2017, according to The Real Deal. A simuliar fate meets the property right next door on 66 Rockwell Place. And three more buildings just northwest at the intersection of Fulton Street, Dekalb Avenue and Flatbush Avenue, which was purchased by a real estate company called RedSky Capital for $24.4 million.
With the many development projects taking place the coming years will bring an abundance of luxury apartments and pricey hotel rooms. But there won’t be anywhere to buy Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Soap.
“Eventually there won’t be anything here,” said Benjamin.
