Judge Langston McKinney
Syracuse City Court Judge Langston McKinney (pictured above) will retire in a few weeks after more than two decades on the bench and almost 40 years in the legal profession. Here is an interview he did earlier this year with political scientist Grant Reeher.
“When you see a veteran, thank a veteran.” –Tim Gurnsey
2010 Veterans Day Ceremony, Onondaga County War Memorial
Former President Bill Clinton stumps for Dan Maffei (left) in Syracuse
Former President Bill Clinton finished his multi-state campaign tour in Syracuse last night to stump for Congressman Dan Maffei. Clinton urged the crowd to get out and vote. He also warned against falling into the politics of frustration.
Dr. Ron Walters, speaking at Syracuse University in 2007
Renowned political scientist Dr. Ron Walters passed away last week.
Walters graduated from Fisk University in 1964 and earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from American University. He taught at the University of Maryland, Howard, Brandeis and Syracuse Universities.
He last spoke at SU in 2007 (pictured above).
Giles and Choi
Syracuse University graduate students John H. Giles, Jr. and Eunyoung Christina Choi attended the 2010 Association of American Geographers meeting in Washington, DC last week.
Choi presented a paper titled: Everyday Practices of Bordering and the Threatened Bodies of Undocumented North Korean Border-Crossers.
Giles is a SIF Advisory Board Member.
Hon. Dave Bing, ampoule Mayor of Detroit
During the past quarter century, when you thought of Detroit, you couldn’t help but think of a crime-ridden urban wasteland thanks to film such as RoboCop, True Romance, Blue Collar, Assault on Precinct 13, 8 Mile and Grand Torino.
The Honorable Dave Bing wants to paint a new picture of Detroit. The Mayor and NBA Hall of Fame guard, who is a graduate of Syracuse University, spoke yesterday at Whitman Day. He talked about coming and playing at Syracuse and being drafted #2 overall by the Pistons. He also said he had to work during NBA off-seasons to make ends meet.
Working those summer jobs (in banking and the auto industry) turned out to be one of the best things to happen to Bing, who says in his first entrepreneurial venture he lost 1/2 of his NBA savings.
After that minor setback, Bing became a salient model for post athletic business success and has parlayed his business influence all the way to city hall (he was elected in 2009).
“I am where I am and I compete where I am,” he said.
Beyond the court and the business world, Bing hopes his Third Act will include leading an economic, political and psychological transformation for the motor city.
Dr. Steve Perry
For too long the education system has fostered schools that are failing and according to Steve Perry, principal and education activist, failure is no longer an option.
“We can’t call a school a school if it doesn’t educate,” he says. “We have to create schools that are designed to be successful.”
Perry gave a lecture Saturday at Bethany Baptist Church that was sponsored by the Say Yes to Education program. He heads Hartford Prep (CT) and was featured on the CNN series Black in America 2 with Soledad O’Brien. Perry has also been interviewed often by New Inspiration for the Nation’s George Kilpatrick.
For Perry education is a calling, not just a profession. He drives several of his students to school each day and says 100% of the students at Capital Prep go on to college.
Perry says that he has no problem getting this across to his staff, and because you have a degree doesn’t mean you are a teacher. “I’ve fired some great people, they just weren’t good teachers,” he said.
Citing the McKinesey Report, Perry said that a child without an education will be a challenge for society. He said parents, teachers and entire community’s share responsibility for schools that don’t work.
“I love kids too much to care about grown people’s feelings.”
“We are motivated to become what we imagine ourselves to be.”
-Ed Cole
Byron Hurt
About this time last year we saw Byron Hurt’s film “Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes.” The filmmaker and anti-sexist advocate (pictured above) recently came to Syracuse to discuss his film during a film festival at the Community Folk Art Center. We asked him if he got any backlash from the film and what was the genesis for the project.
I received this link from photographer Chester Higgins (NYT). All voters should be this educated about their candidate and the process.