She is from the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx where the median income is a little less than $19,000. She also comes from a single parent home. I am from Hamilton Heights, a section in Harlem known for its middle class residents. For two years, we were both placed in a bridge class, the merger of two grades into one class. I later learned these classes saved Sisulu and Victory some money. My friend lost because Victory split her academic resources. Once my friend graduated, cost normalized and Victory abandoned the bridge class system. In order to save money Victory deprived her of a decent education, which led to a series of other bad academic choice because she was not prepared in her youngest stage. Charter schools must take blame for such their practices and Black communities need defenders against such actors. This defense should come in the form of Black politicians, but as you will read, this is not always the …show more content…
In the history section of the UMEZ webpage, an interesting photo appears. Harlem Congressman Charles Rangel provides his seal of approval on what looks like a bill. On his sides are the then Republican Governor and Mayor of the State and City of New York surrounded by community members and developers. The photos affirms Spence’s description of the empowerment zone system as one dependent not only on “government participants but bank, business, non-profit and community participants as well.”
Further, Congressman Rangel is a prime example of a neoliberal politician: a social justice crusader, but an economic opportunist. As an intern at his office, I remember receiving calls from someone named Kenneth Knuckles, whom I later learned serves as the C.E.O of the UMEZ. Knuckles is also a campaign contributor to Rangel and donated $1600 to Rangel for Congress PAC in February 2014. Here, we see the business entity of the UMEZ financially supporting the Black politician, Rangel, who serves as the UMEZ champion and keeps its machine